The An-28 is a twin-engine, turboprop-powered, light utility STOL (short take-off and landing) airplane developed by Ukrainian aerospace firm Antonov. The high-wing An-28 took its maiden flight in 1973 and it was manufactured from 1975 to 1993. Piloted by two, it can carry up to 17 passengers, 4,000 pounds of cargo, or some combination. The company produced a total of 191 airframes, and many remain airworthy.

Antonov developed the An-28 to satisfy a mid-1960s request by Soviet flag airline Aeroflot for a small, short-range airliner. Engineers based the An-28 on their previous STOL aircraft, the An-14. First flown in 1958, Antonov introduced the An-14 to provide passenger and cargo transport services to remote areas with only small dirt or gravel airstrips. The An-14 features a semi-monocoque fuselage, a strut-braced main wing, a fixed tricycle undercarriage, and an empennage consisting of a single horizontal stabilizer with two vertical stabilizers. Powered by two wing-mounted piston engines, the An-14 was used extensively throughout the world.

To create the proof-of-concept An-28, engineers at Antonov replaced the piston engines of an existing An-14 with turboprop powerplants. This pre-prototype model, called the An-14A, took its maiden flight in 1969. The first clean-sheet An-28 prototype took its initial flight on January 29, 1973. Larger and far more powerful than the An-14, the An-28 shares several general traits with its progenitor, notably its strut-braced wing, fixed tricycle undercarriage, and empennage. Antonov manufactured the An-28 from 1975 to 1993, and the aircraft has served several civil and military operators throughout the globe.

The An-28 measures 43 feet in length, stands 16 feet, 1 inch tall, and has a wingspan of 72 feet, 5 inches. It is powered by two 960-horsepower Glushenkov TVD-10B turboprop engines, each of which turns a 3-blade propeller. It has a range of 851 miles, a service ceiling of 19,685 feet above sea level, a maximum climb rate of 1,640 feet per minute, and a cruising speed of 219 miles per hour. An excellent STOL performer, it has a take-off run of 1,350 feet and a landing run of 1,033 feet.