Giant Airplanes That Actually Exist

we have the longest plane in the world we have the tallest plane in the world we have the plane with the longest wingspan heck we even have the plane with the biggest circumference the thing looks like a giant alien head floating in the sky with a range of 5500 miles or 8 900 kilometers the intercontinental strategic airlifter is one of the most popular planes in the u.s army they were developed by lockheed and then taken over by lockheed martin the plane has a length of 248 feet or 75 meters and a wingspan that measures 223 feet or 68 meters from tip to tip this makes the lockheed c5 galaxy one of the largest aircraft in the world the full crew of the c5 galaxy is comprised of seven people including the aircraft commander the pilot and three load masters and the two flight engineers at bare minimum capacity this plane can be operated by four people because the plane has a capacity of 128 tons the c5 can carry about 36 of those giant master pallets even though some might consider these planes extremely expensive the us army doesn't share that opinion there is a total of 131 c5 globemasters built and they've all been used by the us army no other army in the world has been able to use them if you were to look at a cross section of this aircraft you would see why we're saying that this aircraft looks like a floating alien head in the sky this is one of the widest bodied aircraft and it's used for hauling oversized cargo for items that cannot fit on a normal aircraft aerospace lines has built five of these aircraft in total today it's the only aircraft that could carry the complete third stage of the saturn v rocket and it's been used numerous times during the apollo program but if you're thinking this is a powerful plane it's really not the four allison 501 d22c turboprops powering and it reaches a maximum speed of 290 miles per hour or 460 kilometers per hour the super guppy has a range of about 2 000 miles or 3200 kilometers the aircraft weighs approximately 46 tons and the maximum takeoff weight is 77 tons that leaves about 31 tons for loading cargo in the bay since we're talking about large bodied air lifters this is the airbus beluga it can smash that like button just like you should if you haven't done so already but no in all seriousness the airbus beluga can reach a maximum takeoff weight of 155 tons the plane alone weighs approximately 86 tons which leaves a lot of the weight for the cargo as you can see the name has been derived from the plane's look airbus built a total of five planes and they made them all look like whales floating in the sky there's even an eye near the nose of the aircraft a crew of just two people can operate this giant plane and it has a fuel capacity of 6 300 gallons or 23 800 liters this allows the plane to reach a maximum range of about 1700 miles or 2700 kilometers and thanks to the general electric cf6-80c-2a turbofans this plane can reach a maximum speed of about mach 0.7 it's one of the largest and most imposing military planes in the world this long-range subsonic aircraft has been designed to stand the test of time and it's been in service with the united states air force since april 15 1952 this year was the plane's 70th anniversary boeing designed the stratofortress and boeing updates the planes so they remain competent on the battlefield there has been a total of 744 units built to date the plane can carry about 32 tons of weapons and reach targets 8 800 miles or 14 000 kilometers away of course the plane can refuel in mid-flight extending its range indefinitely now here is an image showing all of the weapons that can fit on board this boeing b-52 stratofortress they can seat 480 passengers have a wingspan of 212 feet or 65 meters and are 242 or 72 meters long these are the newest additions to airbus fleet the airbus a350 took its first flight in june 2013 and to this day there have been around 500 produced for the airlines such as qatar singapore and delta these are long-range wide-body airplanes with a maximum takeoff weight of 316 tons the airbus a350 has a fuel capacity of 42 000 gallons or 159 000 liters and a range of 8 700 miles or 16 100 kilometers thanks to the new rolls-royce engines these planes can reach a top speed of mach 0.85 or 488 knots that's 903 kilometers per hour introduced in 2012 this boeing 747-8 intercontinental is the largest commercial airplane currently flying it's also the largest variant of the 747 aircraft and as of april 2022 there are 151 units many of them are being used by ups airlines lufthansa and korean air the plane has a total length of 250 feet or 76 meters a wingspan of 224 feet or 68 meters and a height of 63 feet or 19 meters the maximum takeoff weight of this aircraft is 448 tons while the useful load is 76 tons because of its large fuel capacity of 63 000 gallons or 240 000 liters this plane has a range of 7 730 nautical miles or 14 320 kilometers since its first flight in 1991 the c-17 globemaster 3 has been one of the most imposing military transport aircraft the u.s air force has ever used they could often be seen on strategic airlift missions worldwide but they can also smash that subscribe button and ring the notification bell but no in all seriousness they also perform medical evacuations and airdrop duties the 279 units built so far have been used by the usa india the uk canada australia qatar and the uae they all have their own fleet of globemaster 3s the plane only needs a crew of three people to operate it it can fit about 18 master pallets or 134 troops that's because the maximum takeoff weight is 265 tons it has a comparatively short range of about 2 780 miles or 4 500 kilometers but it can refuel in midair which is always a bonus it was named the longest plane in the world the antonov an-225 was the only one in the world and was operated by the soviet union and then antonov airlines the plane was produced in 1985 and took its first flight in 1988 since then it has been in service until february of 2002. not only did they call it the longest but it was also the heaviest aircraft ever built because it had a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons everywhere it went people greeted it with cakes and celebrations and airports felt lucky if mariah landed on their runway instead of the average four the mariah had six engines they were all evchenko progress d-18 t engines couple that with the fuel capacity of more than 300 tons and a range of 9600 miles or 15 400 kilometers you soon realize why this heavy lifter was so important the main landing gear had 28 tires in total which still looked small when compared to the size of this aircraft this plane was the only one capable of carrying large machine engines and manufacturing parts whenever a giant production machine would break down and it was determined that it was more efficient to pay antonov airlines a couple of million dollars to deliver the part in a short time the antonov an225 mariah would soar through the skies the hughes h4 spruce goose was considered the plane with the largest wingspan but that was before the strato launch was developed more on that next currently it's the tallest plane in the world with a total height of 79 feet or 24.2 meters the plane was called strategic airlift flying boat which means that the aircraft was capable of carrying excessive cargo landing and taking off from the water the h4 spruce goose was supposed to serve the us during world war ii but it was completed two years after the war ended needless to say the plane didn't serve its purpose it only took one brief flight back in november 2nd 1947 and the spruce goose never took flight again because the plane was made entirely out of birchwood there were aluminum restrictions during the war this is how the plane received its name from the critics and to tell you the truth it remains in surprisingly good condition considering that the plane has been on display in two museums for the past 42 years if it looks like someone took two planes and soldered them together you wouldn't be too far off the truth it's the plane with the largest wingspan and the company operating this aircraft was founded by paul allen the co-founder of microsoft the plane has been used to carry an air launch to orbit rocket in simple terms that means the jet is secured between the two fuselage of the aircraft and then the stratolaunch climbs in the sky after it reaches the desired altitude it releases the rocket or spaceship in midair from there the stratolaunch lands and the jet or rocket uses its own fuel to climb faster than ever before the stratolaunch has a wingspan of exactly 385 feet or 17 meters and can carry a payload of about 250 tons that's because the six pratt and whitney pw 4056 turbofans allow the plane to have a maximum takeoff weight of 590 tons bye for now

Channel: Beyond Facts

Views: 5,988

Keywords: 15 abnormally large airplanes that actually exist, airbus, airbus a380, aircraft, airplane, airplanes, amazing, an-225, antonov, aviation, beyond facts, beyond facts flight secrets, beyond facts planes, biggest airplanes in the world, biggest plane, biggest planes, boeing, fact, facts, flight, giant airplanes that actually exist, giant airplanes that actually work, largest, passenger plane, pilot, plane, planes, technology, the largest plane, top 10, top 5, unusual planes

Id: XEXsWcb7SXU

Length: 10min 14sec (614 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2022