So I was driving to work today, and as I went under a bridge/runway (people from Milwaukee will know what I’m talking about…on Howell Ave.), I was amazed as I saw one of the biggest planes I’ve ever seen. All I could see on the side was International Cargo something, I couldn’t catch the last word). Anyways, this plane was HUGE. It had six jet engines (3 under each wing). The rear “dorsal fin” for lack of a technical term went lenghtwise to the plane then vertical on each end. It had what appeared to be normal front landing gear, but as it took off, I ‘think’ I counted 8 sets of wheels on each side in the back (which means it was proabably 16 or 32 on each side). I’m really interested in finding out what this was. It took off REALLY slowly, I was amazed that it got off the ground, and only used like 1/2 - 3/4 of the runway. I did a little bit of googling, but didn’t really come up with anything. Does anyone have any idea of what this could have been??
It´s the Antonov AN 225 Myria; the largest plane ever built (for now it´s a unique machine)
Sounds like an Antonov AN-225:
Heeeeeyuuuuge transport plane.
Drat. What Ale said two minutes earlier 
It’s an Antonov An-225, a Russian cargo plane. There is only one in the world, you were lucky to see it! It was designed to carry the Russian space shuttle.
Ehhh… let´s make that Mriya :o
Probably it just seemd to you that it took off slowly; such a large plae doesn´t seem to move fast because the reference you have is how fast it moves in relation to it´s size, so a large plane may appear to fly slow, but in fact is moving quite fast.
Besides, the Mriya is designed for precisely that, taking off and landing in short distances, and if it wasn´t loaded it would have been quite possible for the plane to take off using only half the runway lenght of a normal airport.
That’s the one, HOLY CRAP it was huge. So I’ve officially seen the largest and second larges planes in the world now, and they both took off right over my head. I feel special!
Now the next challenge is…Can anyone help me find a good picture to reference the size, so I can show it off. The closest one I could come up with was the plane and a bunch of tanks around it. It really doesn’t do the size justice. I’m looking for something more along the lines of it parked next to a 747 or something.
It’s difficult to do a side by side comparison in 2D, but…
How does it compare to the Airbus A380? Bigger?
A380
Wingspan: 261 feet, 10 inches
Length: 239 feet, 6 inches
Height: 79 feet, 1 inch
Weight: 606,000 pounds (empty)
Top Speed: 652 miles per hour
Cruising Speed: 630 miles per hour
Flight Altitude: 43,000 feet
Range: 8,000 miles
Engines: 4 engines Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance
AN225
Powerplants: 6x Progress-D-18T
Performance: Max. speed - 528mph (850km/h), range with max payload - 2425nm (4500km), range with no cargo - 8310nm (15400km).
Weights: Max. take off weight – 600000kg
Dimensions: Wingspan 290 ft (88.4m), lenght – 84,00m, height – 18,10.
Capacity: Maximum load: 551150lbs (250000kg)
I couldn´t find any picture, so I made one… 
747 Vs. An 225 Same scale, of course.
Why does something that was designed specifically to carry something piggyback style need so much space inside the fuselage?
So could the Wright brothers first flight have taken place inside this monster?
Almost looks like it. It’s long enough, and 18’ high – did the Wrights get more than 18’ from the ground on that first day?
(Of course, there wouldn’t be sufficient wind, etc. to actually do this. But it’s kinda fun to think about it.)
The An-225 is based on the An-124 which is pretty big to begin with, bigger than the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Comparing the An-124 specs with the An-225 the cargo floor width is exactly the same, so it looks like they just used the An-124 fuselage and maybe stretched it a bit for optimal placement of the rear control surfaces.
Photos of the An-124
Yet more photos of the An-225, including those with Buran.