Antonov An-30
Encyclopedia
The Antonov
Antonov
Antonov, or Antonov Aeronautical Scientist/Technical Complex , formerly the Antonov Design Bureau, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company with particular expertise in the field of very large aircraft construction. Antonov ASTC is a state-owned commercial company...
An-30 (NATO reporting name
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are classified code names for military equipment of the Eastern Bloc...
: Clank), is a development of the An-24
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
designed for aerial cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
.
Development
The first aerial surveyAerial survey
Aerial survey is a geomatics method of collecting information by using aerial photography, LiDAR or from remote sensing imagery using other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as infrared, gamma, or ultraviolet. It can also refer to the chart or map made by analysing a region from the air...
version of the Antonov An-24
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
was designed by the Beriev OKB
OKB
OKB is a transliteration of the Russian acronym for "Опытное конструкторское бюро" - Opytnoe Konstructorskoe Byuro, meaning Experimental Design Bureau...
and designated An-24FK. The FK stood for fotokartograficheskiy (photo mapping). The prototype was converted from a production An-24A at Beriev's No. 49 construction shop during 1966. The An-24FK made its first flight on 21 August 1967, with state acceptance trials being completed in 1970 and civil certification completed in 1974. Redesignated An-30, production began in 1971 at the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
machinery plant. 123 production An-30s were manufactured between 1971 and 1980 in Kiev in 2 main versions.
Design
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
.
The radio operator and flight engineer sat in the first cabin aft of and below the flightdeck. The mission equipment was located further aft, in a cabin featuring five camera windows in the floor. Each camera window could be closed with covers to protect the glass panels. The covers were located in special fairings protruding from the fuselage underside. In the normal aerial photography role, four or five cameras were carried aboard. Three cameras were mounted vertically, intended for mapping purposes. The remaining two cameras were pointed at an angle of 28° on each side of the aircraft, for oblique photography. The same fuselage compartment contained workstations for two camera operators and a crew rest area.
The aircraft's cameras could be used between 2,000 and 7,000 m (6,500 and 23,000 ft) and the scale of the resultant photographs was between 1:200,000 and 1:15,000,000. The aircraft was supplied with four or five cameras.
The An-30 was powered by two Ivchenko AI-24VT turboprops with a take-off rating of 2,820 ehp.
Operational history
Treaty on Open Skies
The Treaty on Open Skies entered into force on January 1, 2002, and currently has 34 States Parties. It establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants...
.
The An-30 has also been used as a weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
control
Weather control
Weather control is the act of manipulating or altering certain aspects of the environment to produce desirable changes in weather. Weather control can have the goal of preventing damaging weather, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, from occurring; of causing beneficial weather, such as rainfall in...
aircraft as the An-30M. Some have been fitted with frozen tanks of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
to be ejected into the sky to form artificial rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
s. These An-30s have also been put to use to avoid crop-damaging hail
Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
storms and also to maintain good weather for, as examples, new airplane maiden flights, important parades like the 1st of May and the 850th anniversary of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in September 1997.
Between 1971 and 1980 total 115 aircraft were built and 23 were sold abroad to Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia and Vietnam.
Machines of this type completely mapped Afghanistan in 1982, with one machine shot down during use, and Cuban machines were operated in Angola in 1987.
Variants
An-24FK- The sole prototype converted from an An-24B with a navigators station in an extensively glazed nose and elevated cockpit to give clearance for mission equipment.
An-30A
- Version designed for civilian aviation. 65 were delivered to the Soviet Ministry of Civil Aviation, 6 to other Soviet civil organisations. 18 An-30As were built for export, 7 of which were delivered to ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
An-30B
- Version designed for the Soviet Air Force. 26 built. Main differences from An-30A was the avionics fit. Most An-30Bs were retro-fitted with chaff/flare dispensers.
An-30D Sibiryak
- Long range version of the An-30A with increased fuel capacity, developed in 1990. 5 aircraft were converted to An-30Ds. All were based at MyachkovoMyachkovoMyachkovo may refer to:*Myachkovo, Moscow Oblast, a village in Moscow Oblast, Russia*Myachkovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, a village in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia...
airfield near MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. This variant was used for ice monitoring, fisheries monitoring and as a transport aircraft. It had improved communication equipment, including a data-link system. Rescue equipment was also carried on board.
An-30FG
- CzechCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
designation for the single Czech Air ForceCzech Air ForceThe Czech Air Force is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The Air Force, with the Land Forces, comprises the Joint Forces, the main combat power of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic...
An-30, after being retro-fitted with a western weather radar.
An-30M Meteozashchita
- Version equipped for weather research. It can spray dry ice into the atmosphere for weather control duties. The dry ice was stored in 8 containers per 130 kg instead of the photographic equipment.
An-30R
- A production An-30 CCCP-30055/RA-30055(c/n1101) converted to a NBC reconnaissance aircraft with air sampling pods under the forward fuselage and other sensors for monitoring nuclear, biological and chemical warfare by-products. A second example, 30080, was acquired by the VVS, differing in having only one sampling pod on the port pylon and provision for dropping large flare bombs from the starboard pylon. An-30R RA-30055 was used for monitoring the plume from the ChernobylChernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
No.4 nuclear reactor fire and became permanently radio-active in the process, being withdrawn from use immediately afterwards.
Military operators
- Afghan Air ForceAfghan Air ForceThe Afghan Air Force , formerly the Afghan National Army Air Corps and Afghan National Army Air Force , is one of seven "corps" of the military of Afghanistan, responsible for air defense and air warfare. It was officially established in 1924 and for most of its history has functioned as a small...
received an An-30 in 1985.
- Bulgarian Air ForceBulgarian Air ForceThe Bulgarian Air Force is a branch of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Bulgarian airspace, to provide aerial support and to assist the Land Forces in case of war. The Bulgarian Air...
- People's Liberation Army Air ForcePeople's Liberation Army Air ForceThe People's Liberation Army Air Force is the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army, the military of the People's Republic of China...
- Czech Air ForceCzech Air ForceThe Czech Air Force is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The Air Force, with the Land Forces, comprises the Joint Forces, the main combat power of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic...
retired their An-30 in 2003.
- Romanian Air ForceRomanian Air ForceThe Romanian Air Force is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, four air bases and an air defense brigade...
– 3 operated from 1976; currently 1
- Russian Air ForceRussian Air ForceThe Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
- Soviet Air ForceSoviet Air ForceThe Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
- Ukrainian Air ForceUkrainian Air ForceThe Ukrainian Air Force is a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian Air Force Command and headquarters are located in the city of Vinnytsia....
- Vietnam People's Air ForceVietnam People's Air ForceThe Vietnam People's Air Force is the air force of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese Air Force and the absorbed Republic of Vietnam Air Force following the re-unification of Vietnam in 1975.-Beginning-1964 :The first Vietnamese aircraft were two trainers, a de Havilland...
Civil operators
In August 2006 a total of 30 Antonov An-30 aircraft remain in airlineAirline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
service:
- Civil Aviation Administration of ChinaCivil Aviation Administration of ChinaThe Civil Aviation Administration of China , formerly the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China , is the aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents...
operates 1 aircraft.
- MIAT Mongolian AirlinesMIAT Mongolian AirlinesMIAT Mongolian Airlines , Mongolian Civil Air Transport) is Mongolia's national airline, headquartered in the MIAT Building in Ulaanbataar, the capital...
operated 1 aircraft.
- Moskovia Airlines operates 1 aircraft.
- Lukiaviatrans operates 5 aircraft.
- Myachkovo Air Services operates 4 aircraft.
- Novosibirsk Air EnterpriseNovosibirsk Air EnterpriseNovosibirsk Air Enterprise was an airline based in Novosibirsk, Russia. It operated passenger and cargo services and aerial surveying work. It was established and started operations in 1929 as Novosibirsk Air Squad...
operates 3 aircraft. - Polet AirlinesPolet AirlinesCJSC «Polet Airlines» is an airline based in Voronezh, Russia. It operates a worldwide cargo and domestic passenger charter services from Voronezh, as well as regional passenger and cargo services from Sokol. Its main base is Chertovitskoye Airport, Voronezh.-History:The airline was established...
operates 3 aircraft. - Practical Geodinamics Center operates 3 aircraft.
- ARP 410 AirlinesARP 410 AirlinesARP 410 Airlines is an airline based in Kiev, Ukraine. It operates passenger and cargo services throughout Ukraine and to destinations in Europe, South-East Asia and Africa...
operates 2 aircraft. - Ukraine National Airlines operates 6 aircraft.
- Vietnam Air Service CompanyVietnam Air Service CompanyVietnam Air Service Company , also known as VASCO, is an airline in Vietnam, headquartered in Tân Bình, Ho Chi Minh City. Operating scheduled flights from its base at Tan Son Nhat International Airport to the south of the country, VASCO is a fully owned subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines, it also...
operates 1 aircraft.
Sudan, one AN-30A-100 is operational in Sudan