Rahco Tackles Big Job Spokane Company Builds Parts For Egyptian Canals

Hard to believe you can hide the world’s largest cargo aircraft in plain sight.

But with its unadorned gray and white paint job the Antonov 124-100 “Ruslan” parked on the tarmac at Spokane International Airport Friday morning barely stood out against one of the fall’s first fogs.

After the fog lifted - the Ruslan arrived before the mist - the gigantic plane was clearly visible from I-90.

A breeze slowly spun the huge turbine blades on the plane’s four engines as crew members finished buttoning-up after a night spent loading a 90-ton canal liner manufactured by Rahco International of Spokane.

Inside, the blue machinery was lashed down in a space a Costco customer could admire. Two 10-ton cranes were overhead, and a staircase was barely visible toward the back.

The cockpit at the top of the forward staircase was the size of a small RV, excluding the three staterooms to the rear.

The Russian-made craft carries a crew of 21, almost all Ukrainian, said James Minty, who hunts cargos for the owner, Antonov Design Bureau.

About half the members are flight crew who rotate shifts on long flights. The other half are mechanics, who double as loaders.

From Spokane, the Ruslan was scheduled to head for Calgary Friday night. Its final destination is Abu Simbel, Egypt, after stops in Gander, Newfoundland; Shannon, Ireland; and Cairo.

Minty said the Spokane airport’s runways are more than long enough for the Ruslan, which holds the record for heaviest commercial cargo shipment - more than 140 tons.

At Abu Simbel, said Rahco’s Robert Waggoner, employees of Societe du Behera will begin reassembling the canal liner, which took seven months to build in the company’s Spokane shops.

Without the Ruslan, he said, assembly would take longer. Similar equipment shipped in a Boeing 747 has been cut up to fit, then rewelded at the job site. The Ruslan would dwarf a 747 parked nearby.

The buyers want the liner operable by Oct. 6, when it will undertake the most ambitious public works project in Egypt since the completion of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River in 1970.

The task has been likened to building a second Nile.

Starting near Abu Simbel, site of a famous temple, the Egyptian government plans to build a system of canals and tunnels that will link the river with several outlying oases.

The first segment would extend 220 miles. Waggoner said the system could eventually be double that size, irrigating 1 million acres of what is now desert.

The government hopes the project will help disperse Egypt’s burgeoning population, which threatens to smother the limited amount of arable land along the Nile itself.

Besides the liner, Rahco also made a concrete finisher and excavation trimmer for the project. The other two pieces are being transported by ship and truck - taking three months - because they are not needed as urgently, Waggoner said.

He declined to quote exact prices for the three-piece set, instead giving a range of $3 million to $5 million.

Waggoner, who has sold Rahco equipment in the Mideast since the 1970s, estimates the company has produced almost 200 sets for use worldwide.

Some manufactured in the 1960s are still in use, he said.

Workers who will operate the new machinery have experience with other models, he noted. Also, Societe sent about a dozen employees to Spokane for additional training.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo