Identify by aircraft characteristics

This piston twin has a conventional configuration, but the wing mounted engines drive pusher props. Also has a large entry door on the left and a large dorsal fin.

Being similar in size and configuration as the Lockheed Hercules, the An-12 can be regarded as its Soviet counterpart. Nevertheless, the two are easily distinguished as the An-12 has a glass nose, outer wings with anhedral and four wheels on each main landing gear leg. The Y-8 is the Chinese version and An-10 the pax version.

The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is the only aircraft with swept wings at top of the fuselage, a conventional tail unit (low horizontal stabiliser) and four jet engines under the wings. The five pairs of wheels of each main landing gear retracts in pods at the side of the fuselage.

The An-14 was the predecessor of the An-28, and they share the main design characteristics. Its rear fuselage slopes up directly behin the wings, and the horizontal stabilisers have a dihedral, so the vertical stabilisers are tilted inward. Finally the An-14 has radial engines

The An-140 is the predecessor of the An-24 and has about the same basic configuration. However the twin-wheel main landing gears retract in the fuselage instead of the engine nacelles. Also the aircraft has horizontal stabilisers attached with a significant dihedral. Both characteristics also make it clearly recognisable from the CN235 and G222.

The An-148 and An-158 are sort of BAe146s with two engines, with their high mounted wings and T-tail. The types are easily recognisable from similar sized (military) transport aircraft by the many cabin windows.

The cockpit windows, wings, engines and tail of the An-178 are much like the An-148, on which it is based. However, the An-178 has a tandem main landing gear, with wheels behind each other instead of side-by-side. Also the rear fuselage is ramped up to allow loading and unloading cargo at the rear.

As one of the largest single engine biplanes ever built, the Antonov An-2 and derivatives are quite easy to recognise. The wingspan of the upper wings is wider than that of the lower wings; they are connected by a single strut. The aircraft comes with piston and turboprop engines, which results in a different appearance. The Chinese version is the Nanchang Y-5.

While the sound of the contra rotating propellers is already very characteristic, this does not help you recognise it when the engines are shut off. But otherwise the large size and H-tail are also good recognition points of the Antonov 22.

Once the biggest aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-225 is still impressive. It is an enlarged Antonov 124, with six engines and an H-tail. The main purpose was to carry the Russian space shuttle, the Buran.