Microsoft Flight Simulator will be adding the world's largest plane, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, to the game after it had been destroyed in a bombing in Ukraine. The plane will be arrinving on February 27, one the one-year anniversary of its destruction.
The An-225 was built in 1988 by Antonov, a Kyiv-based manufacturer, to transport the Soviet Buran shuttle. The plane was 275 feet long and weighed in at 190 tons, making it one hefty aircraft. The fall of the Soviet Union shortly followed the production of the An-225, meaning that the aircraft would no longer serve a functional purpose, and it went into storage shortly after.
In the '90s, Antonov refit the craft to make international hauls and was contracted by the US military in 2003 to send 200,000 meals to US forces in Turkey. Thus began a 20-year run of large-scale hauling for the aircraft, which was the only one in existence after plans for expanded production were rejected. When the Ukraine-Russia conflict broke out last year, the An-225 was stationed at Hostomel Air Base, which was subject to a large-scale battle, during which a bomb destroyed the mastercraft machine and cut short a storied history.
While there are currently plans underway to rebuild the aircraft, incorporating its canceled sibling's design, Microsoft is working to preserve the original by incorporating it into Flight Simulator. Together with Antonov and a team of modders at iniBuilds, Microsoft will be putting the aircraft into the game for players to fly forever. Both iniBuilds and Antonov have tweeted about the aircraft being added to the game, with both tweets showing in-game screenshots of the aircraft. With Antonov partnered to develop the plane, one can expect that it will handle and fly as accurately to the real thing as possible. The pack will cost $20 and the proceeds will go to both Antonov and Ukrainian support, according to iniBuilds.