At first sight you might doubt if a huge dolphin is flying towards you. But as this huge and massive air transporter will move nearer, you’ll notice that its an Airbus Beluga. And it may be carrying some satellite in it. Basically, Beluga is a freight aircraft developed earlier by airbus to transport completely fabricated sections of Airbus aircrafts from different production sites all around Europe to Toulouse or Hamburg where the final assembly lines are located. Named after the Beluga whales, almost of the same appearance as of this aircraft. It combines the performance of a jet with outsized cargo-carrying capability.
Have a look first:
There are a total of 5 Beluga aircrafts being used by Airbus. 4 of them are only for their own transportation use and 1 of them is available for lease. Beluga’s great loading capacity makes it one of the most desirable aircraft of the present time.
Beluga's Nose loading
| AIRCRAFT DIMENSIONS*: | ||||||
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imperial | ||||
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| Overall length | |
56.15 m. | |
184 ft. 3 in. | ||
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| Height | |
17.24 m. | |
56 ft. 7 in. | ||
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| Fuselage diameter | |
3.95 m. | |
13 ft. | ||
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| Maximum cabin width | |
3.70 m. | |
12 ft. 2 in. | ||
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| Cabin length | |
37.7 m. | |
123 ft. 8 in. | ||
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| Wingspan (geometric) | |
44.84 m. | |
147 ft. 2 in. | ||
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| Wing area (reference) | |
122.40 m2. | |
1,317 ft2. | ||
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| Wing sweep (25% chord) | |
25 degrees | |
25 degrees | ||
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| Wheelbase | |
11.05 m. | |
36.25 ft. | ||
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| Wheel track | |
7.59 m. | |
25 ft. | ||
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*Courtesy: Airbus
8 Hummers can be loaded easily bumper-to-bumper, 2 side-by-side and 3 of them can be stacked one over the other. So, it makes a total of 48 Hummers. With a load of about 26 tonns it can cover distances of about 2500 nautical miles (4632 km). This grand storage capacity has been utilized for transportation of satellites, aircraft parts and even French art masterpieces. For transporting goods that require controlled temperature, there is a pallet-mounted module for providing moderate temperatures inside the storage cabin.
The maximum size of an object in a room can be determined by the size of the door. For making the logistics of greater volume fit into the main compartment, cockipt has been lowered below that of storage compartment. This helps in easy front loading. Front door lifts upwards, providing access to full volume of compartment, allowing easy rolling in and out of goods.
can be compared with: Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, Antonov An-124 and Boeing C-17.
We are looking into trying to fly a liqued fueled rocket core (empty no fuel)and transportation trailer from the Ukraine to Wallops Island, VA the the trailer with core is 115ft long by 13 ft wide by 17 ft tall. When I look at your web site it gives dimentions however’ I am not sure looking at the dimentions if this rocket core and trailer will fit inside your aircraft. Will you please send me any drawing you may have that will show that my cargo will fit inside you aircraft?
Thank You Very Much
Don Hatch
The cabin length is the total length which involves some of the space that cannot be utilized for such rocket cores. I think this rocket , along with the trailer, will not face much of difficulty in getting into the aircraft as:
1)it can accommodate 31.2 ft of height which is much more than your requirement. It has transported such a core with this height previously.
2)it has 123 ft of cabin length and your rocket is about 8 ft less than that. But,
The only issue i can see is that of width. I’ll have to confirm it from my sources if this rocket can be transported in this aircraft.