World’s Largest Airplane Flies a Fourth Time for Mission-Critical Test

Stratolaunch’s Roc, the world’s largest airplane, made its fourth test flight Thursday over California’s Mojave Air and Space Port with a mission of fully operating all landing gear in flight for the first time.

Thom Patterson

Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 04:23 PM ET

Verified

The largest airplane in the world by wingspan flew its fourth test flight, successfully cycling through all landing gear for the first time. [Courtesy: Stratolaunch]

Key Takeaways:

Stratolaunch’s Roc, the world's largest airplane, successfully completed its fourth test flight, achieving the critical milestone of fully retracting and extending all its landing gear for the first time.
This successful gear operation is essential for the Roc to advance its flight test campaign and move closer to its primary mission of air-launching hypersonic testbed vehicles (Talon-A).
The landing gear, largely adapted from Boeing 747-400 components, required significant engineering to integrate with Roc’s unique twin-fuselage design.
The next steps involve installing a pylon to carry payloads, with the goal of conducting the first hypersonic test flight by the end of the year.

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Stratolaunch’s Roc, the world’s largest airplane by wingspan, successfully completed its fourth test flight Thursday, on a critical mission aimed at cycling through all landing gear for the first time.

Taking off at about 12:23 p.m PT from its base at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port (KMHV), Roc reached a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet and spent an hour and 43 minutes in the air, lifted by its gargantuan 385-foot wings.