Volga-Dnepr's RA-82045

I suppose this post should be called "JRF RareBird", as one of Volga-Dnepr's An-124-100s, RA-82045 (msn 9773052255113) made a stop at JRF (Kalaeloa Airport) on a flight from IAH as VDA1385, that arrived yesterday afternoon. According to sources, this was the third of three Ruslan flights to transport Hawai‘i Army National Guard assets for an overseas deployment. This An-124-100 recently had the orange 20th Anniversary decals removed.

It's seen in the top photo during its pre-flight check phase, with the main entry door open, and a crew member doing a pre-flight walk-around. The An-124 departed from JRF on Runway 4R, made a 180º right turn to cycle for a Runway 8L arrival at HNL, with its landing gear down the entire flight, and never got above 5,000 feet in altitude.

It flew to HNL as VDA4018 this morning, and returned to IAH after a three-hour fuel stop, as seen in the above photo, departing from Runway 8R.