Big bird takes wing: World’s largest plane launches from Calif.
LOS ANGELES — A giant six-engine aircraft with the world’s longest wingspan completed what company officials called a superb initial flight over California’s Mojave Desert, bringing to life a dream held by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen.
Stratolaunch Systems Corp. CEO Jean Floyd said Saturday the aircraft made a “spectacular” landing. Stratolaunch, which was founded by Allen, is vying to beacon tender in the market for air-launching small satellites. Allen died in October. “It was an emotional moment for me, to personally watch this majestic bird take flight, to see Paul Allen’s dream come to life in front of my very eyes,” Floyd told a teleconference briefing.
Floyd said that as the plane lifted off, “I did whisper a ‘thank you’ to Paul for allowing me to be part of this remarkable achievement.”
The behemoth, twin-fuselage Stratolaunch jet lifted off from Mojave Air and Space Port shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday and climbed into the desert sky 70 miles north of Los Angeles. The jet flew 2 1⁄2 hours, achieving a maximum speed of 189 mph and altitudes up to 17,000 feet, the company said.
Test pilot Evan Thomas of Scaled Composites LLC, which built the aircraft, said the flight overall was “fantastic” and for the most part the plane flew as predicted.
He said there were “a few little things that were off-nominal but really for a first flight it was spot-on.” He did not specify what those things were, and briefing participants did not take questions.
The aircraft is designed to carry as many as three satellite-laden rockets at a time under the center of its enormous wing, which stretches 385 feet.
At an altitude of 35,000 feet, the rockets would be released, ignite their engines and soar into space.
Powered by the same type of engines used by Boeing 747s, the aircraft is designed to take off at a maximum weight of 1.3 million pounds. Its twin fuselages — sort of the airplane equivalent of a catamaran — are 238 feet long.