Hester H-350

an Air Canada Cargo H-350, the latest operator of the plane.

The Hester H-350 is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft and larger than the Boeing 747-100 that was designed in the 1980s by the Hester in the United Kingdom. The Hester H-350 is one of the world's heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane and heaviest operating cargo aircraft, behinds the Anotonov An-124. The H-350 remains the one of the largest transport aircraft in service. First flown in 1987, civil certification was issued on 3 November 1987.

## History

During the 1980s, Cargolux needed much more heavy airlift aircraft. Its largest planes consisted of 747-100 and -200 Freighters, which were used heavily for tactical roles.

The Hester H-350 was manufactured in multiple airports, Specifically Glasgow, London Heathrow, Norwich, Cardiff, Belfast, and Liverpool. Design work started in 1984 and construction of facilities began in 1973. Manufacturing on the first airframe began in 1985. Ultimately this project brought together over 50 factories contracted to produce systems and parts.

The type's maiden flight took place in 29 July 1987.

In the early 1990s, after a maiden flight in the 1990 Farnborough Air Show, Atlas Air, FedEx, UPS and DHL ordered the aircraft, FedEx and UPS later cancelled the orders and the orders were transferred to Atlas Air.

In Early-1992, Lufthansa Cargo and Turkish Cargo ordered the Hester H-350 for more cargo operations.

In April 1994, the program succeeded many flight tests. In May 1994, EVA Air took delivery of it's first Hester H-350.

In 1996, DHL order ordered another 40 aircraft for a total of 80. In 7 April 2009, Air China Cargo ordered 10 H-350s. On 13 August 2009, AerCap and the ILFC

In 2010, The London Gatwick factory was closed and was refurbished into a British Airways hangar and Hester opened it's first factory at London Heathrow.

On August 2016, the Ukrainian Air Force ordered 20 Modified H-350s, Hester later named the modified prototype into a Hester H-3510, a military variant modified with air-to-air refueling, cargo door on the rear of the tail and a larger fuel tank about the size of an Airbus A350 fuel tank.

On May 2018, Ethiopian Arilines annouced an order for 4 H-350s

On 5 April 2020, LATAM Cargo ordered 4 H-350s used for used for COVID-19 vaccines and medicine transport, Air Canada also ordered the H-350 for the same exact reason on 6 November 2020 with 8 on order.

## Operators

1. Cargolux, 1988 (11 in service)
2. Atlas Air, 1991 (19 in service)
3. DHL, 1991 (8 in service)
4. Lufthansa Cargo, 1993 (5 in service)
5. Turkish Cargo, 1993 (3 in service)
6. EVA Air Cargo, 1994 (2 in service)
7. Cathay Pacific Cargo, 1995 (7 in service)
8. KLM Cargo, 1995 (5 in service, 2 one them are operating for Martinair)
9. Martinair, 1995 (2 in service, operated by KLM Cargo)
10. Singapore Airlines Cargo, 1998 (4 in service)
11. Silk Way Airlines, 2003 (6 in service)
12. Volga-Dnepr, 2005 (8 in service, grounded since 2022)
13. Air China Cargo, 2011 (3 in service)
14. Polar Air Cargo, 2015 (6 in service)
15. Korean Air Cargo, 2015 (7 in service)
16. Ethiopian Airlines Cargo, 2019 (4 in service)
17. LATAM Chile, 2021 (4 in service, used for COVID-19 vaccines and medicine transport)
18. Air Canada Cargo, 2021 (4 in service, 5 on order, used for COVID-19 vaccines and medicine transport

### Leasing companies

1. Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM), 2012 (20 under lease)

## Accidents/Incidents

### Fatal

1. On November 18th, 2017, Silk Way Airlines Flight 238 was a Hester H-350-500 registered 4K-SW744, crashed in the Malacca Strait en route to Jakarta, Indonesia, the crash site is just 312.91 km away from Banda Aceh, Indonesia (6∘26'21"N 97∘59'57"E), the wreckage was later recovered and the cause of the crash was identified to be pilot error as the first officer accidently jammed the rudder due to overspeed which led to instrument failure and turned right, the plane continued flying for 6 minutes before all 4 engines failed due to the instrument failure and the plane later went into a nosedive and entered an uncontrollable spin which led to an in-flight breakup with its tail, nose and left wing torn off.
2. On April 4th, 2021, Atlas Air Flight 8432 was a Hester H-350-500 registered N945GT crashed on approach at Anchorage, Alaska, USA on a flight between New York-JFK and Anchorage. The aircraft crashed due to in-flight cargo fire and all 4 people onboard we're killed.
3. On September 28th, 2021, Volga-Dnepr Airlines Flight 9609 was a Hester H-350 registered RA-76129 on route from Novosibirsk, Russia to Tonroto, Canada when the aircraft emergency landed at Toronto due to in-flight cargo fire while the aircraft was carrying lithium-Ion batteries, 2 out on the 5 crew members onboard we're killed due to smoke inhailation. the aircraft was later repaired for 8 months, but the aircraft was instantly retired by Volga-Dnepr due to the Russian sanctions since it was finished being repiared in April and the sanctions occured in February, the aircraft will soon be taken up by Air Canada Cargo.