Antonov An-24V/B Russian short / medium-haul passenger aircraft,
Eastern Express 14460

The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957. First flown in 1959, over 1,000 An-24s were built and 880 are still in service worldwide, mostly in the CIS and Africa, with a total of 297 Antonov An-24 aircraft in airline service, as of May 2010. Due to its rugged airframe and good performance, the An-24 was adapted to carry out many secondary missions such as ice reconnaissance and engine/propeller test-bed, as well as further development to produce the An-26 tactical transport with cargo ramp, An-30 photo-mapping/survey aircraft and An-32 tactical transport with more powerful engines.

The Antonov An-24B is the second 50-seat airliner version with one extra window each side, simple-slotted flaps replacing the complex double-slotted flaps and extended chord of the centre-section to compensate for the lower performance flaps. Some aircraft were delivered with four extra fuel bladders in the wing centre-section. An-24RV - a turbojet boosted version, similar to the An-24B but fitted with a 1,985 lb (900 kg) thrust auxiliary turbojet engine in the starboard nacelle.

The Antonov An-24T is a tactical transport version with a ventral loading hatch, cargo winch and escape hatch aft of the nose landing gear. An-24RT is similar to the An-24T, fitted with an auxiliary turbojet engine.

The Antonov An-32P firekiller: aerial firefighting version. Special category type certificate granted on 10 March 1995. A total of eight tons of liquid can be discharged from the two external tanks simultaneously or one after the other. Drops are conducted at 40-50 m above ground level and 240 to 260 km/h. Can be used as a cargo aircraft when not fighting fires. [Wikipedia]