Gigantic new aircraft design aims to create the largest plane ever to fly

There's a global energy crisis and onshore wind farms are a potential growth option. Larger wind turbines produce more power than standard ones, but the components are too big to be transported by road.

There’s a global energy crisis and onshore wind farms are a potential growth option. Larger wind turbines produce more power than standard ones, but the components are too big to be transported by road.

What’s the solution? A Colorado-based energy startup named Radia has an idea. It’s developing the biggest aircraft in aviation history.

Meet the WindRunner airplane, whose mission will be to deliver gigantic 300-foot-long blades directly to wind farms.

To help the world meet its decarbonization targets, it’ll use sustainable aviation fuel and needs only a simple packed-dirt or gravel runway to land on.

It’ll operate from regional hubs, says Radia, delivering where needed – and “can land on airstrips as short as 6,000 feet (1,800 metres), something no other large commercial aircraft can achieve.”

When it comes to carrying the largest payloads ever moved by air, dainty just isn’t going to cut it.

So WindRunner will have a cargo bay volume of 272,000 cubic feet, enough to hold three Olympic swimming pools. That’s 12 times the volume of a Boeing 747-400 and – at 356 feet in length, it’s 127 feet longer too.