Inside plans for the world’s largest plane that can carry twelve times as much as Boeing
INCREDIBLE plans for the world’s largest plane reveal how the giant cargo plane could be the key to transporting some of the largest objects on the planet.
With a gigantic length of 100 meters, the revolutionary WindRunner would be longer than the pitch at Wembley Stadium and could carry no less than 12 times more payload than a Boeing 747.
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The WindRunner, which will carry the enormous and heavy blades of a wind turbine, could officially become the largest aircraft in terms of length and cargo volume if built.
The smart team at Radia is behind the ambitious project that rocket scientist Mark Lundstrom is part of.
He has spent the past seven years working with his engineering team to finally nail down the concept of the jet.
The overall purpose of the aircraft is to address the many challenges faced when transporting offshore blades due to their size.
The largest blades are so enormous that the plane can only carry one at a time.
It is also 80 times larger than the largest military aircraft in the world
The WindRunner will be a beast in the air due to its impressive size.
It is 30 meters longer than a Boeing 747, the largest passenger plane in the world.
And despite the aircraft’s incredible length, it is also 23 meters high and has a wingspan of 261 meters.
At a speed of 0.6 Mach, the cargo plane, if built, can also carry a maximum payload of 72,575 kg.
The aircraft could potentially hold one large offshore blade at a time, or four smaller blades.
But Lundstrom is hopeful that the plane will one day expand its use and move other large equipment for military operations.
Or be used to help in the oil and gas industry, where it could make billions.
The Radia team expects commercial production of the aircraft to start in late 2027.
THE POWER OF WIND TURBINES
Offshore wind turbine blades are among the longest objects in the world and can currently only be transported by enormous boats.
The blades are made of fiberglass reinforced polyester or epoxy, which means they can weigh ridiculously much and be almost impossible to fit on vehicles that aren’t specially reinforced.
The heaviest knives can weigh as much as 26,000 kg, reports suggest.
But with the size and mass of the WindRunner, it could open up a whole new world, allowing even bigger blades to be produced.
In the future, Radia is considering using blades that can reach a range of up to 100 meters.
An astonishing increase from the current dimensions of only 229ft (70 meters).
Such projects could then help produce approximately double the amount of energy that current onshore installations can produce.
The larger the leaf, the more wind energy can be harvested at the same time.
Radia estimates that turbines with such large blades can reduce energy costs by 35 percent.
And it could also increase the consistency of energy generation by 20 percent compared to the current crop of onshore turbines.
The largest aircraft in the world
AIRPLANES come in all shapes and sizes, but some are simply bigger and better than the rest.
The largest commercial aircraft in decades was the Boeing 747, which took the honors after coming in at 230 feet long.
The Airbus A340-600 briefly stole the crown in 2001 when it entered service at a whopping 247 feet.
But Boeing quickly reclaimed the title of world’s largest airplane when the 747-8I reached a height of 250 feet.
There have been many candidates for the throne over the past fifty years, but one stands above the rest.
A double-decker superplane called Very Large Airplane.
The first concept was designed by Lockheed Martin in 1996 and would have blown any other passenger plane 262 feet long out of the sky.
In terms of the heaviest aircraft, the Antonov An-225 Mriya holds the world record with a maximum capacity of over 250,000 kg.
Followed by the Antonov An-124 Condor, which can carry around 150,000 kg.
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