The Antonov An-180 was a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

design for a twin-aisle medium-range

propfan A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed an ...

airliner. Although the design was completed by the

Antonov Design Bureau Antonov State Enterprise ( uk, Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) ( uk, Авіаційний науково-технічни� ...

in 1994, the type was not built.

Development

The An-180 was designed as a replacement for the aging

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...

and

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airli ...

airliners. Antonov was discussing this aircraft in Soviet aviation publications as early as October 1990, describing the An-180 as a 164-180 passenger plane with a range of and a per-passenger fuel consumption of . The proposed aircraft was introduced to the world at the 1991

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...

. As of September 1991, the An-180 had a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane is ...

design with the propfan engines attached to the

aft "Aft", in nautical terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning towards the stern (rear) of the ship, aircraft or spacecraft, when the frame of reference is within the ship, headed at the fore. For example, "Able Seaman Smith; lie aft!" or "Wh ...

fuselage, but Antonov later modified the design so that the engines were attached to the ends of the

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

in a conventional tail configuration. In 1992, Ukraine and China were studying whether to jointly develop the aircraft. In April 1994, a prototype of the aircraft was tested at the Russian Central Aviation Institute's transonic

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

, with follow-up tests in July to finalize the design, but financial problems delayed the completion of the study as of November 1994. By February 1995, joint manufacturing was expected to begin at the aircraft factories in

Kharkiv, Ukraine Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

and the

Production Corporation Polyot Production Association Polyot (russian: Производственное объединение «Полёт», , flying, flight) is a Russian aerospace engineering state corporation best known for being the manufacturer of GLONASS satellites and t ...

plant in

Omsk, Russia Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk a ...

. Because of extreme funding shortfalls from the Ukraine government, however, the development of the An-180 was fully suspended by August 1995. In 1999, D-27 engines created by the Progress Design Bureau were still expected to be built for the An-180, according to the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Motor Sich The Motor Sich Joint Stock Company ( uk, АТ «Мотор Січ») is a Ukrainian aircraft engine manufacturer headquartered in Zaporizhzhia. The company manufactures engines for airplanes and helicopters, and also industrial marine gas turbi ...

, the Ukrainian manufacturer of the D-27. Subsequent attempts to obtain commercial investment failed, though, and by 2004, the An-180 was no longer an Antonov project. As of 2003, the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

of an uncompleted An-180 aircraft remained in storage in a building used for assembly of Antonov's experimental models.

Design

The An-180 was a conventionally designed low-wing cantilever monoplane with a conventional tail unit. The unusual feature was the mounting of an Ivchenko Progress D-27 propfan mounted at the end of each tailplane. Each propfan was to have a coaxial contra-rotating tractor propeller, and the An-180 was also designed with a retractable landing gear with twin nosewheels, and tandem pairs of mainwheels. It was planned to have a number of variants with seating starting at 150–156 passengers, to a larger variant for 200 passengers, and it was also planned to build a combination passenger/freight and an all-freight variant. The cabin is configured to use two aisles, with a seating row containing two seats each between an aisle and the adjacent windows/cabin walls, and two seats between the two aisles. The undercarriage can store seven LD3-46

unit load device A unit load device (ULD) is a container used to load luggage, freight, and mail on wide-body aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft. It allows preloading of cargo, confidence the containerised load will fit in the aircraft and efficient plann ...

Specifications

References

Notes

External links