Huge, Modified 747 Normally Requires Nearly 10,000 Feet Of Runway For Takeoff

There's a pilot in Kansas that has to be concerned about keeping his or her job after landing Boeing's Dreamlifter ... a modified cargo 747 designed to haul huge airplane parts ... at a GA airport.

The Dreamlifter was headed from John F. Kennedy airport in New York to McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas on Wednesday. But the pilot landed the behemoth at Col. James Jabara Airport (KAAO) on the northeast side of Wichita, about 12 miles from its intended destination.

Jabara airport is an uncontrolled GA facility.

CNN reports that a special tug had to be sent to the airport just to turn the airplane around.

The runway at KAAO is a tick over 6,100 feet long. Fully loaded, the Dreamlifter requires a tick under 9,200 feet to get off the ground.

Boeing said in a statement to television station KWCH that the airplane is capable of taking off from Jabara's 6,101 foot runway. Spokesman Doug Alter said that "Boeing contracts with Atlas Air to fly the airplane. We are working with Atlas Air to determine the circumstances."

A spokeswoman for the Airport Authority said that the plane had used enough fuel flying from New York to Kansas that the plane was light enough to depart from  Jabara without unloading the cargo. A new crew was flown in for the takeoff attempt Thursday. Local officials closed a nearby highway as a precaution, and KWCH reported that hundreds of people came to the airport to watch the Dreamlifter depart ... which it did with about a thousand feet of runway to spare at about 1415 EST. It was flown to McConnell AFB and unloaded.

(Dreamlifter image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com