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The State Commission for Liquidation entrusted the task to the Antonov Design Bureau to build a protective measure to prevent the spreading of radioactive dust after the first days of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP.

The project "Dome" has been started. Within a few days, engineers developed the hat-like structure with 18.4 meters in diameter and 4 meters high. It was equipped with fire suppression systems and gas sensors and was designed to withstand temperatures up to +600 °C.

The only way of delivery was air transport. The Mi-26 helicopter piloted by test pilot Gurghen Karapetyan was used as the “air crane”. He also was a pilot who first flew this type helicopter back in 1977.

Flight training exercises involving the lifting and transport of the eight-ton dome on the external sling of a massive helicopter began on May 10, 1986, in the Hostomel Airport under the leadership of Petro Balabuev, Chief Designer of the Antonov Design Bureau, and Marat Tishchenko, Chief Designer of the Mil Design Bureau.

In the end of May, they reported about the "Dome" was ready to install on the reactor, but the government ordered it to be dismantled and sent to the storage.

On July 19, the chief mechanic of the “Energospetsatom” PA arrived in the Hostomel Airport without warning and urgently transported the dome with the external suspension system to Chornobyl using an untrained pilots crew. Meanwhile Balabuev forbade the employees of his design bureau from even approaching the dome if someone else were to pilot the helicopter.

During the flight, the dome began to swing uncontrollably on its suspension. The military pilots were unfamiliar with the Karapetyan's piloting technique and unable to handle the situation, and the cargo broke free from its mountings from a 130m height. The unique protective dome was lost.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/antonov.company

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