Antonov AN-22 " COCK " sighting ?

hi - on our morining consitutional scott and i spotted a strange plane flying W > E @ medium altutude

the details :

date- 16th MARCH 2007

time - 07:17

location - clitheroe , lancashire UK

co ordinates :

53°52'23.36"N
2°23'43.06"W

image - cropped and resized only



guesstimates - based on it assumed wingsman of 65m gave an altutude of 5000 feet , and speed of 250 kt

it looks to me like an Antonov AN22 " COCK " if my ID is correct , what is it doing in the UK ?

IDEAS ??

Helluva picture you got here. It matches up with THIS image nicely. Only about 75 were ever built, apparently. Good sighting

Yes ape it seems you're right, it is an Antonov "cock" (seriously, who thought of the name?) Maybe its just carrying some cargo? Or they could be testing stuff on it, but hey thats just my 2 cents

It's probably been to Bae Warton although it might of been doing some freight runs in and out of John Lennon Airport (Speke Airport for us oldies)

Sv...Out!!!

DHL own and operate a few serviceable Antonov aircraft that they picked up from various sources when the Soviet Union went balls-up and put them into service as frieghters.

They have a Antonov 224 as well I do believe, as visiotrs to Donnington Raceway will testify as the bugger tends to come in low over the track to land at East Midlands Airport.

Cool shot. I've been seeing lots of photos of the An-22 on airliners.net lately too. It sure is an impressive looking aircraft.

Originally posted by neformore
DHL own and operate a few serviceable Antonov aircraft that they picked up from various sources when the Soviet Union went balls-up and put them into service as frieghters.

They have a Antonov 224 as well I do believe, as visiotrs to Donnington Raceway will testify as the bugger tends to come in low over the track to land at East Midlands Airport.

If you mean an An-225, then no - theres only one of those in existence, and its owned by the Antonov Design Beureau.

If you mean an An-124 then also no - only 26 currently exist and they are all operated by Russian, Ukranian or Libyan cargo operators.

DHL has operated the An-24 and An-26 tho.

Originally posted by jra
It sure is an impressive looking aircraft.

Impressive is one word - thing bout most Russian planes is did no one tell em if it looks right it'll fly right.



Case in point.

Originally posted by RichardPrice

If you mean an An-225, then no - theres only one of those in existence, and its owned by the Antonov Design Beureau.

If you mean an An-124 then also no - only 26 currently exist and they are all operated by Russian, Ukranian or Libyan cargo operators.

DHL has operated the An-24 and An-26 tho.

'twas a typo, I meant 124, as alluded to by the East Midlands Airport's own site here

East Midlands Airport

which also, interestingly states that the 225 has visited the airport twice.

I stand corrected on the ownership - though I am aware that DHL have chartered the plane from time to time.

Wow..that was an excellent sighting. And a great picture also. Bravo for posting that up here.

And......as someone else mentioned...who the heck came up with that name?

Originally posted by Txhunter67
And......as someone else mentioned...who the heck came up with that name?

I think you'll find any name like that is the NATO 2 reporting name"

Lots of info here

The names would start with these letters.
A - Air-to-Air Missile
B - Bomber
C - Cargo
F - Fighter
G - Surface-to-Air Missile (including Anti-Ballistic Missiles)
H - Helicopter
K - Air-to-Surface Missile
M - Miscellaneous (all aircraft not included in other categories)
S - Surface-to-Surface Missile

Funny, you guys talking about An22's. Last Friday, at around 04.30am I was awakened, by the incredibly loud noise of a turbo prop on T/O from PIK ( Prestwick ), I managed a glimpse in the gloom, and quickly sketched what I saw, but couldn't recognise it. Then today ( Monday 19th) while passing the airport, there was the same aircraft type sitting on one of the cargo aprons, and I am now sure that it's an An22.
An 124's are fairly frequent visitors here, but that's the first An22 that I've seen.

reply to post by ignorant_ape


yeah the ID is correct. It is an An22. It was on an ad-hoc charter to/from PIK Prestwick via France and you saw it on the return leg. They are unusual visitors to these shores thats for sure!
The Wagman