Radia’s WindRunner Much Anticipated Guest

The Paris-Le Bourget Airport will be the host of this year’s Paris Air Show, running from June 16-22, will be waiting with excitement for the first appearance of what’s being billed as the world’s largest aircraft, the WindRunner, made by Radia, based in Boulder, Colorado.

The aircraft, still under development, will measure 356 feet from nose to end, with a cargo bay capacity of 271,922 cubic feet. Compared to the Antonov An-225, whose length was 276 feet and had a cargo by capacity of 46,000 cubic feet. The WindRunner has 12 times the cargo volume of a Boeing 787.

The aircraft was originally designed to carry large blades for wind turbines, but now the industry in general is taking a closer look at it as potentially a transport for satellites and armored vehicles as well. The only limitation is that the cargo weight cannot exceed 72.6 metric tons, or 160,000 lbs.

Technical specs of the aircraft are sparse, including which engines will power the WindRunner. But it does appear that there will be four engines that can get the aircraft to 41,000 feet MSL for a distance of 1,240 miles at a cruise speed of 445 mph. It is advertised as being able to take off and land on unpaved strips of 6,000 feet and requires no specialized ground infrastructure.

In the runup to the Paris show, Radia shared the list of manufacturing partners participating in building WindRunner.

Those include Aciturri Aeronáutica, Spanish maker of composite aerostructures will build the tail structure. Brazilian Akaer Engenharia will build the cabin and systems integration. Astronautics Corporation of America of Wisconsin will develop and be the lead integrator of the avionics systems. Element Materials Technology of the UK is responsible for integrating the fuel system. Lastly, Ingenium Technologies will develop the high-lift control system.

FMI:  radia.com/