The world's largest aircraft project transports wind turbine blades

The WindRunner aircraft will be 108 meters long, far surpassing the world's longest commercial aircraft Boeing 747-8, making it easier to transport wind turbine blades on land.

Design of WindRunner, a giant aircraft that transports wind turbine blades. Photo: Radia

The massive blades needed for today's most powerful offshore wind turbines are not easy to transport on land, limiting their use. Radia, an energy startup in Colorado, USA, proposed a solution: building giant aircraft to transport wind turbine blades, Interesting Engineering reported on March 15. Named WindRunner, this aircraft promises to revolutionize the field of renewable energy by simplifying the process of transporting turbine blades.

WindRunner can reach a maximum altitude of 12,500 m and fly from the center to a location 2,000 km away. WindRunner's size makes even the most prominent commercial aircraft look small.

This plane is 24 m high and has a wingspan of 80 m. At a staggering 108 m long, it is 32 m longer than the Boeing 747-8, the world's longest commercial aircraft. To make it easier to imagine, Windrunner is almost as long as an NFL football field (American National Football League). Impressive dimensions give this aircraft a cargo volume of 8,200 m3 - about 12 times the volume of the Boeing 747-400.

With its massive body, WindRunner requires specialized infrastructure. For example, 1,800 m runways are needed at wind turbine blade production sites to accommodate aircraft take-off and landing.

WindRunner's main mission is to transport giant wind turbine blades on land. They can be 45 - 90 m long and weigh up to 35 tons. This huge size makes it difficult for current transportation methods. For offshore wind farms, specialized ships will transport turbine blades. But with land wind farms, traditional vehicles cannot carry too large turbine blades.

Mark Lundstrom, founder of Radia and an MIT-trained rocket scientist, spent seven years working with a team of engineers to improve WindRunner's design. In addition to solving transportation limitations, the aircraft's carrying capacity also paves the way for the development of larger wind turbines on land, helping to exploit the full potential of wind power, Lundstrom said.

Radia revealed that WindRunner could take off within the next 4 years. According to Lundstrom, the main purpose of the aircraft is to accelerate the pace of wind power development. However, the plane could be useful for other tasks, including transporting heavy military equipment.