By Jo Nova

This tells us everything we need to know about modern Western civilization. A blimp with wings.

These pufferfish of the sky could be the ugliest, most absurd planes to take to the troposphere.

They are emblematic of the era we live in. Wind turbines destined to rot in the ocean are so big now they can’t even fit on a truck, so someone is planning plane specially for them. It will be 100 feet longer than a Jumbo jet but carry no tourists, except the fibreglass kind that torment whales, deafen porpoises and vandalize fine electricity grids. The whole point of these machines is a quest to appease the weather Gods one hundred years from now.

Presumably these will run on fairy dust or fermented tofu.

The Flying white elephants could “hit the sky” in four years

To be clear, all that was announced two weeks ago was that Radia has “plans” to make these aircraft and wants $300 million dollars. Presumably the photos here were made by ChatGPT or equivalent.

by Rizwan Choudry, Interesting Engineering

The WindRunner’s colossal dimensions dwarf even the most iconic commercial aircraft. 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.

Let’s not forget the sole aim and purpose of the plane, the factories that make it, and the entire load it carries is to reduce human fossil fuel use.

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The plane will apparently need  6,000 foot runways to take off and land.

Radia hope that onshore turbines will also be delivered to far flung and remote sites where it is hard to deliver wind turbine parts now. Since those sites are often mountainous and lacking in long international airport runways, who knows, perhaps the blades can be air-dropped?

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h/t Bally