Designing the World’s Largest Aircraft Through Smart Structural Analysis

Radia’s WindRunner, the world’s largest aircraft, advances with Collier Aerospace’s engineering tools for faster, lighter, and certifiable structural design.

When Boulder-based Radia, Inc. set out to build the WindRunner™, the world’s largest aircraft, engineers faced exceptional technical challenges. The project aims to transport wind-turbine blades, satellites, and other large structures, redefining logistics for industries dependent on heavy or oversized components.  However, scaling aircraft design without increasing weight required a fundamental change in how engineers approach structural sizing and material optimization. To achieve this, Radia collaborated with Collier Aerospace, integrating its HyperX® computer-aided engineering (CAE) software into the aircraft’s structural design framework.This partnership illustrates how digital analysis tools connect performance, manufacturability, and certification in a single engineering workflow.

You can also read: Advancing Supersonic Aviation with Prepreg Composite Materials.

Engineering for Extraordinary Dimensions

The WindRunner can carry cargo as long as a football field while landing on semi-prepared runways only 1,800 meters (6,000 feet) long. Such extraordinary dimensions introduce complex stress distributions and unique load paths within both metallic and composite airframe sections. Since project development began in 2016, Radia’s engineers have used advanced simulation to balance strength, stiffness, and manufacturability. Collier Aerospace’s methodology allows multiple configurations of wings, fuselage, ribs, and spars to be evaluated quickly and precisely. Therefore, engineers can refine the aircraft’s mass distribution while maintaining compliance with FAA and EASA structural safety standards.

Automation Transforms Structural Analysis

Traditional structural sizing involves iterative calculations that consume considerable engineering time and resources.By contrast, HyperX software automates stress analysis and rapidly evaluates hundreds of load cases, saving both time and development cost. This automation enables engineers to test design hypotheses faster and focus on interpreting data rather than performing repetitive computations.

According to Craig Collier, CEO of Collier Aerospace, “Scaling up an aircraft like WindRunner challenges every assumption about structural efficiency.”
He added, “Digital sizing tools let us explore configurations that once took months to validate by hand, turning design exploration into engineering.” Such capability transforms the design phase into a continuous process of optimization and learning rather than sequential problem solving.

Human Expertise Enhanced by Digital Tools

Although software manages vast analytical workloads, engineering insight remains central to every design decision. Collier Aerospace worked alongside Radia’s engineers to adapt digital methods for the aircraft’s unconventional structural requirements. This collaboration demonstrates how digital tools extend human expertise instead of replacing it, improving judgment through real-time analytical feedback. By merging automation with hands-on engineering, the project achieved faster iteration cycles and more informed structural trade-offs. Consequently, the WindRunner design reflects a synthesis of computational precision and human understanding, strengthening overall reliability and manufacturability.

Toward a Fleet for Heavy Logistics

Radia intends to build a fleet of WindRunner aircraft to transport extremely large components that currently rely on slower ground or sea routes. This platform could accelerate renewable-energy deployment by moving long turbine blades directly from manufacturing sites to wind farms. Its hybrid structure, combining composites and metals, also provides valuable insight into future strategies for large-scale lightweight construction. As digital design tools mature, projects like WindRunner reveal how aerospace innovation increasingly depends on advanced simulation and integrated analysis. In that sense, the aircraft represents both a new logistical solution and a case study in next-generation aerospace engineering.

The Broader Industry Impact

Founded in 1995, Collier Aerospace has developed CAE technologies for applications spanning aircraft, wind energy, automotive, and sporting equipment. Its work with Radia shows how simulation-driven engineering supports lighter, faster, and more sustainable systems across multiple industries. Moreover, as aerospace companies seek efficiency and reduced emissions, intelligent structural analysis becomes vital for competitive product development. Through projects like WindRunner, engineers demonstrate how digital optimization and composite innovation are reshaping the future of structural design. This collaboration underscores a broader truth: engineering progress now depends on how effectively humans and software think together.