Posted on 03/15/2024 3:30:21 PM PDT by Libloather
Call it the Skytanic.
Engineers have unveiled plans for the world’s largest airplane, dubbed the WindRunner, which could revolutionize renewable energy by transporting gigantic wind turbine blades from point A to B.
Designed by the Colorado-based energy company Radia, the behemoth cargo carrier measures a whopping 356 feet long and 79 feet tall with a wingspan of 261 feet.
For reference, this castle in the sky is nearly as long as a regulation NFL football field and 127 feet longer than the Boeing 747 — the world’s largest passenger plane.
With a potential carrying capacity of 80 tons, it will also be able to hold 12 times as much as the latter aircraft as well.
In order to accommodate the jumbo jet’s landing, a 6,000 foot runway will also need to be constructed.
The WindRunner’s purpose is to fly the blades of onshore wind turbines — which measure between 150-300 plus feet long and can weigh 35 tons — to various wind farms.
Due to their gargantuan size and unwieldiness, these freakishly big fan blades currently have to be transported offshore via specialized marine vessels, which limit their use on land.
“Today’s largest wind turbines and the even larger ones of the future cannot be transported to prime onshore wind farms via ground infrastructure,” Radia writes on its website.
This challenge initially inspired Radia employees to undertake this massive endeavor.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I'll say they are. I've seen them being transported on the highway on over-sized trailers. They are gigantic.
The world’s largest passenger plane is the airbus A380.
CC
“I’m flying Jack, I’m flying!”
Copilot: “Good for you captain. Now could we go through the landing checklist?”.
CC
ROFL!!! Thanks for the laugh. At least Skytanic won’t have to worry about icebergs, but flocks of birds, Chinese balloons, and other planes are a whole ‘nother story.
“Boeing 747 — the world’s largest passenger plane.”
Isn’t the Airbus A-380 bigger?
This should only be allowed if it runs on offshore wind generated electricity, forbid using combustible fuels or fuel cells. Might take these geniuses a lots of decades to figure that out, but they are the ones worried about going through globull “change.”
“How do they get from the airport to the wind farm?”
Didn’t you see the pictures in the new article? It shows the new plane next to a wind farm out in the desert. Looks like it is a VTAL type aircraft ... if you believe the pictures.
🤣😆
That seems like an awfully short runway for that big a plane.
My vote is just bolt the blades together with 1/4 screws therefore enabling transport by Cessna 152s. QED. Duh!
Name the plane the “Don Quixote”.
“Name the plane the “Don Quixote”.”
No!
It must be . . . la Dulcinea
LOL!
It will have to be taken down if Biden keeps trying to say how big it is and messing up the numbers
And how much will the CO2 emissions for the plane be??? LOL
Not anymore. The Russians destroyed it 2 years ago.
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