This Massive 500-foot-wingspan Plane Was One Of Boeing's Most Ridiculous Designs

Boeing

Imagine a cargo level truthful big, it could transportation astir 200 cargo containers, including 20 successful each wing. The Pelican Super Transport was Boeing's intended reply to nan Navy's request to carrier monolithic amounts of cargo and unit crossed nan globe. This plane, arsenic conceived, would person been up to nan task.

The Pelican was designed to person an unthinkable wingspan of 500 feet, complete 100 feet wider than nan world's existent widest plane. That would person fixed it an acre of helping area. It would person weighed 1,600 tons and could person carried 1,400 tons of cargo. The little platform unsocial had capable room to stack shipping containers 2 high, while nan precocious platform had capable room for different level of shipping containers. It could person carried 17 M1 Abrams tanks, 70 dense expanded-mobility tactical trucks, aliases a full minefield's worthy of 2,000-pound mines. It would person been nan largest airplane successful history.

To assistance this beast disconnected nan ground, it was designed pinch 8 gigantic 80,000-horsepower turbine engines that could return nan level up to 20,000 feet astatine 300 mph — though it would person spent astir of its clip successful nan air just 20 to 50 feet supra nan ocean's surface. Then it would person landed connected 76 wheels, arranged successful 2 agelong rows moving astir of nan magnitude of nan fuselage. Every 1 of those wheels would person been steerable, meant to maneuver this monstrous craft connected nan crushed and to defy crosswinds erstwhile landing. However, this agelong instrumentality statement would make it intolerable for nan Pelican to rotate for illustration astir different airplanes, meaning it would person to execute a "levitating" aliases vertical takeoff, for illustration nan B-52.

As awesome arsenic nan Boeing Pelican Super Transport would person been, its creation was impractical successful galore ways. For example, ideate trying to find a runway pinch capable room to taxi a 400-foot-long airplane with a 500-foot wingspan. This limitation is 1 of nan reasons that nan 787 doesn't person winglets. Even a elder head astatine Boeing, John Skorupa, admitted to Flight Global successful 2003 that nan wingspan was nan Pelican's "number 1 problem" and nan size of nan craft "may look absurd connected nan look of it."

And past there's nan Pelican's sheer weight. Fully loaded astatine 3,000 tons, it would beryllium heavier than nan limits of astir airdrome runways. The craft's immense weight would besides mean that it would require much powerfulness to return disconnected than to fly. That would require larger engines, reducing nan magnitude of cargo it could transportation and harming its efficiency.

The Pelican was designed arsenic a Wing-in Ground effect (WIG) aircraft, meaning it was meant to alert mostly adjacent nan crushed aliases nan water surface. This would fto it usage a arena known arsenic "ground effect," resulting successful little drag. In theory, this would offset immoderate of nan inefficiencies inherent successful flying specified a ample aircraft, giving nan Pelican a scope of astir 10,000 nautical miles.

But flying astatine debased altitudes besides presents a fewer issues. The level would beryllium successful threat of being deed by very gangly waves — a problem for a level not designed for h2o landings. Flying astatine debased altitude presents its ain challenges, which would require dense automation of nan Pelican's controls. Bird strikes would moreover beryllium an accrued consequence astatine those debased altitudes.

The impracticality of an craft this large was not mislaid connected Boeing aliases Congress. A 2005 Congressional study connected imaginable wide cargo solutions for nan subject concluded that it was only somewhat probable that nan Boeing Pelican could beryllium delivered by its target day successful 2015. A Department of Defense study from nan aforesaid twelvemonth listed nan Boeing WIG craft arsenic 1 of galore imaginable solutions and noted aggregate imaginable issues pinch its deployment, but nary programme for nan Pelican was projected aliases started.

Boeing itself mislaid liking successful nan task by nan pursuing year, successful 2006, moving connected to different priorities. The institution had predicted that complete 1,000 Pelican craft would beryllium needed by 2020 moreover if it captured arsenic small arsenic 2% of nan wide cargo carrier market. This, of course, was highly speculative.

Interest successful nan WIG conception was revived by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency a fewer years ago, partially successful consequence to China's liking successful a Soviet water-skimming plane. It sent retired a petition for accusation successful 2021, seeking WIG craft for subject use. But 1 of its requirements was that nan level beryllium capable to return disconnected and onshore successful water, which was not planned arsenic 1 of nan Pelican's capabilities. Still, who knows? With this renewed interest, you conscionable mightiness spot a monolithic airplane for illustration nan Pelican successful nan entity 1 of these days.