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The world's largest plane just flew for the first time
(CNN) After years of development in the desert north of Los Angeles, a gigantic, six-engined megajet with the wingspan of an American football field flew Saturday morning for the first time. Stratolaunch Systems, the company founded in 2011 by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, conducted the first test flight of the world's largest plane. (www.cnn.com) Ещё...
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track https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N351SL
photo https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/stratolaunch-the-worlds-biggest-plane-is-airborne/312060
photo https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/stratolaunch-the-worlds-biggest-plane-is-airborne/312060
Video footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9bOigLN2E
With due respect but this is a very ugly plane, looks like a couple of siamese pterodactylus joined at the tip of the wings. And lets not forget that "If it looks right, it will fly right".
I think the delays getting this beast in the air and the advances made by launch providers (e.g. SpaceX and Electron) have doomed this system for launching satellites. I believe history will view this as the "spruce goose" of the 21st century. I could be wrong and I hope that I am. It just ain't looking good for these guys.
The Luftwaffe had their Gigante, Paul Allen, r.i.p., has his Golaith. Here's wishing many revenue flights launching many, many satelltes over the lifetime of this colossus. I like the look...
Aerodynamics engineer: Yes