Radia WindRunner

The design doesn't look terribly innovative, just big.

"Measuring an astounding 356 feet long, with a height of 79 feet and a wingspan of 261 feet, it outstrips the Boeing 747-8’s length by 106 feet. To put things in perspective, the Windrunner is almost as long as an NFL football field. Its exceptional size translates to a vast carrying capacity of up to 80 tons – twelve times that of the Boeing 747."
 

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Orionblamblam said:
a vast carrying capacity of up to 80 tons – twelve times that of the Boeing 747."
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Shurely shome mishtake?

A few years ago I was asked about the payload of a 747 freighter. Apparently I knew about aircraft. The bloke wanted to airfreight Barite to Angola for a drilling operation and wondered how much he could get on a 747. I advised that it would be an expensive hobby and errrr...brave. I never heard any more about it

Chris
 
Orionblamblam said:
The design doesn't look terribly innovative, just big.

"Measuring an astounding 356 feet long, with a height of 79 feet and a wingspan of 261 feet, it outstrips the Boeing 747-8’s length by 106 feet. To put things in perspective, the Windrunner is almost as long as an NFL football field. Its exceptional size translates to a vast carrying capacity of up to 80 tons – twelve times that of the Boeing 747."
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Probably still better to invest in modular blades or airships.
 
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martinbayer said:
Getting a fundamental parameter like payload capability by over an order of magnitude wrong, see https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/...about_bca/startup/pdf/freighters/747-400f.pdf, does not instill confidence in Radia.
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To be fair, the Radia website gives the payload as "160,000 lbs / 72,575 kg," doesn't make that comparison to the 747. The "12 times 747" line seems to come from the journilizmizers at "Interesting Engineering."

If we listened to what media types said about what people say and/or claim, rather than what they actually say and/or claim.... that'd be a bloodbath.
 
They claim that customers would need to build 6,000 foot long, semi-improved airstrips near wind turbine construction sites.
Sure, any wind turbine installation needs an approach road, but it can be difficult to find 6,000 feet worth of flat terrain in mountain passes. Add in another 6,000 feet of clear area for approach and another 6,000 feet for take off clearance and you need a HUGE flat area.
The top view also includes a rather small wing for such a large cargo compartment. The unswept wing also implies that they do not care about cruising very high or very fast.
May I suggest a larger wing to improve STOL performance? …. and shorter airstrips?
 
Orionblamblam said:
The time of the modern zeppelin has come at last. Soon! Any day now!
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I mean, there's a small use case for LTA transport. Sufficiently small that these days it's almost all advertising and not cargo hauling. Especially when there are helicopters that can lift 20+ tons.
 
How much does a single turbine blade weigh?
How much does a set of three blades weigh?
Please include cradles, crates and lifting slings in your calculations.

To answer my own questions …. The Avweb article quotes blade weight at 80,000 pounds and blade length at 320 feet.
 
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Justo Miranda said:
That thing reminds me of Short Stirling
:confused:

en.wikipedia.org

Short Stirling - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Shorts Stirling climb performance was hampered by too short a wing. The “less than 100 foot wingspan” was based upon a pre-war RAF specification related to hangar sizes. Poor climb performance meant that Stirlings struggled to climb above the worst German flack.
Its Handley-Page Halifax competitor got a minor wing span extension between the Mark I and Mark III (104 feet).
Meanwhile its Avro Manchester competitor (90 feet) was hampered by a similar short wingspan and unreliable RR Vulture engines. Avro Lancaster only became successful after they ditched Vulture engines and installed 4 Merlin’s on an extended wing (102 feet).
 
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The problem is, that most flat planes are easily accessible by land vehicles and most mountainous regions are unsuitable for building long runways. Keep in mind, that a lot of earth moving machinery is also required and the cables have to be connected to a grid, so access by land is required anyway…

Wind turbine blades are very lightweight, so I don’t see a problem with the weight carrying capacity, more so with the lacking marked.
 
Nicknick said:
The problem is, that most flat planes are easily accessible by land vehicles and most mountainous regions are unsuitable for building long runways.
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Even better, most of the places where they're putting Wind Tubines on ridgelines, the ridgelines are at a significant angle to the wind.

So even if you do get permission to chop a 3km long landing strip for the Windrunners to land on, they're going to be in a near 90deg crosswind!
 

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