The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union (USSR). Until the Boeing 747-8F, the An-124 was, for thirty years, the world's heaviest aircraft gross weight production cargo airplane and second heaviest operating cargo aircraft, behind the one-off Antonov An-225 (a greatly enlarged design based on the An-124). The An-124 remains the largest military transport aircraft in the world. Due to it's size, the Antonov often appears lower on approach and departure than it actually is. All Antonov operations are required to be conducted under the instruction and guidance of Seattle Center and Paine Field's Air Traffic Control Tower.
