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> Online reports say commercial operations as soon as 2027, but there’s no timeline confirmed on Radia’s website. Yeah that ain’t happening. From renders to flying in three years for an aircraft larger than the A380? Nah.
Jury-rigging one of the A380s would be cheaper and faster, in my opinion. Also there is an unfinished An-225 somewhere in Ukraine, so that is another option.
Considering they mention packed-dirt short runways it sounds like the plan is to create a temporary runway directly at the wind farm site, eliminating even the road transport from the airport to the construction site. That's a pretty smart idea if they can make it work. An A380 definitely won't do that job.
I seem to also remember that the A380 needs additional strengthening to be used for freight, there was some talk of developing a freight version but it was never done. For this particular cargo perhaps it isn't needed though as I assume those blades aren't super heavy.
Wouldn't it be easier to just invent an IKEA windmill blade than an entire frickin airplane?
Windmills have giant turbines eh? Wouldn't it be easier to just invent an IKEA windmill blade than an entire frickin airplane?
Doesn't it make more sense to build the factory (for the blades) at a port and transport the blades via ship.
This whole idea sounds like poor planning.
Doesn't make intuitive sense to me why you'd need a whole new airplane for this. Can you not rig something up to let one of these blades ride on top of an existing plane like the space shuttle transporter? Or would Sergey Brin's giant dirigible work? Or two helicopters flying in formation? Or just make the blades come in two pieces assembled on site? Just seems very hard to believe a project as massive as a whole new…
For another, the shuttle piggyback worked partly because of the shuttle’s aerodynamic profile. It’s designed to go straight forward into the wind. This means the 747 still handled well. A windmill blade, though, would present a very different cross section to the oncoming air, and seriously screw up the host’s aerodynamics.
So you could mask it and put fairings on it, and by the time you’ve done that 500 times you’ll wish you’d just built a special-purpose airplane to begin with.
Aren't the wind farms where these blades are going to be installed out at sea? Doesn't it make more sense to build the factory (for the blades) at a port and transport the blades via ship. This whole idea sounds like poor planning.
Windmills have giant turbines eh? Wouldn't it be easier to just invent an IKEA windmill blade than an entire frickin airplane?
With a plane they can fly out the waste blades currently accumulating on wind farms and dump them in the ocean.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
With a plane they can fly out the waste blades currently accumulating on wind farms and dump them in the ocean.
Why are there waste blades - this isn't the razor-and-blade model for wind energy is it?
Have a look for yourself, pan around a bit... https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cabazon,+CA+92230/@33.9100...
Windmills have giant turbines eh? Wouldn't it be easier to just invent an IKEA windmill blade than an entire frickin airplane?