Giants of the sky

I've been working in the aviation maintenance industry for more than 15 years now.
When I started, I was taught about the theory of flights, the study of how an aircraft flies. I know the parts and components that put the machines on air and I've been working on them for the past many years.

Yet quite often, when large airplanes are taking off to the sky, I can't help but to watch in amazement.


Some pictures I got from the internet;



Antonov AN-225 Mriya
Largest airplane in the world with 84.0 m. of length, 18.1 m. of height and 88.4 m. of wingspan.



Airbus A380
Largest passenger airliner in the world with 73 m./239 ft. 3 in. of length, 24.1 m./79 ft. 7 in. of height and 7.14 m./23 ft. 5 in. of wingspan.



Airbus Beluga (A300-600ST Super Transporter)
Developed to transport complete sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites in Europe to Airbus final assembly lines in Toulouse or Hamburg.



Boeing B747 Dreamlifter
Intensively modified Boeing 747-400 used exclusively for transporting aircraft parts, primarily the major assemblies of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from suppliers around the world to Boeing.



B747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
Extensively modified Boeing 747 used to transport NASA Space Shuttle orbiters.



Airbus A340-600
World's longest passenger aircraft with 75.3 m./247 ft. 1 in. of length.



Photography;
Antonov An-225 photography by Dmottl, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0.
A380 photography by Dmottl, Paris Air Show 2007.
Airbus Beluga photo from NASA, USRA (Universities Space Research Association), and L-3 Communications Integrated Systems.
B747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft photography by Carla Thomas taken on September 1, 1998 for NASA.
B747-400 LCF photography by Cory Barnes, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0.
A340-600 photography by Arpingstone.