Yesterday at 20:25
Ukrainian aviation manufacturer “Antonov”, asked the US Department of Transportation to allow an off-schedule flight of the AN-123-100 “Ruslan” cargo aircraft from Los Angeles to Florida to transport a large shipment of cargo for SpaceX, the Musk owned company. This was reported by Daily Airlines Filings.
Antonov’s request is available for free viewing on the American Regulatory Information Hub.
“Antonov Company t/a Antonov Airlines (“Antonov”) hereby applies for an emergency exemption pursuant to 49 U.S.C. §§ 40109(g) and 41703(c) to permit Antonov to operate a single one-way all-cargo charter flight transporting outsized rocket hardwar” – the document says.
It is noted in the request, that a part of the main rocket is to be transported from Los Angeles either to Titusville or directly to Cape Canaveral. The flight is planned for January 10-13, 2018, using an AN-124-100 “Ruslan” aircraft to address a pressing commercial requirement of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
According to the document, the unit that needs to be transported measures approximately 706” x 222” x 164” and weighs approximately 62,000 lbs. It is emphasized that transporting the cargo in time is critical.
“Failure to deliver this cargo on or about January 11, 2018,2 would have compounding repercussions that would adversely impact SpaceX’s scheduled launch missions. Such an outcome would be unduly harmful and costly to SpaceX and its launch customers” – is stated in the request by the aircraft company.
