The Stratolaunch Roc: The World’s Weirdest Airplane

[@megaprojects9649]

Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/megaprojects for 10% off on your first purchase of a website/domain.

[@djraxx068]

Gotta love that scamspace sponsorships have now shifted to advertising scamming other people as a selling point. If you didn’t know, squarespace is far more expensive than other website Hosters and lives on selling overpriced servers through KZbin ads. As a general rule of thumb, treat any KZbin sponsor with a hefty dose of scepticism. Betterhelp, airup, established titles, hellofresh and so many more have already proven they’re a scam more often than not

[@michaelhendricks9462]

Thank you, Squarespace, for providing me ADS that pretend to be content, instead of content that happens to be supported by ads. By the way, in case it wasn't obvious to anyone with an IQ over 80, when I said "Squarespace," I meant "Simon."l

[@citizenblue]

Love this. Just wish the grain filters weren't applied to footage so recent.

[@Robotron2084psn]

Indeed wtf

[@Dont_Poke_The_Bear]

Agreed. Poor editing choice.

[@jennycraigadventures3314]

It’s not to obscure copyrighted footage, is it?

[@danoconnell1833]

Agreed! Those filters are really annoying.

[@citizenblue]

@@jennycraigadventures3314 I'd say probably. It's annoying nonetheless

[@mlosuno402]

“Longer than any commercial aircraft in the world, just barely beating out the A380” As a picture appears on the screen showing the 747-8 at 3.3m longer 🤦

[@hornback86]

Impressive. Very nice. Now let’s see Paul Alan’s space launcher.

[@D_U_N_C_L_E]

My god... It even has a watermark...

[@TROOPERfarcry]

... the tasteful thickness of it....

[@TROOPERfarcry]

You're a man of deep culture.

[@Jonasastrophotos]

Nothing is more ironic than Richard Bransons bid of $1 for Stratolaunch, just for his own company Virgin Orbit to go bankrupt and for Stratolaunch to buy their 747 called cosmic girl. Also Talon A just completed a powered flight!

[@Stimpson-J-Cat]

My dad passed a couple years back and I had to drive cross country back to Oregon after that. That was a few years after Allen had died and stratolaunch was being shipped for sale. As I drive through the Mojave past stratolaunch’s hanger, the plane was on the tarmac right outside the hanger. Calling it massive vs a regular airliner is an understatement. It was rather impressive to see as I drove past.

[@flightmaster999]

So happy to hear this plane is finally being used for something useful!

[@mikeygallos5000]

I'm glad elephants are mentioned here again, though differently from the usual MegaProjects manner.

[@philcarter2362]

The Roc was developed by Scaled Composites for Paul Allen's Stratolaunch, hence the brainchild of Burt Rutan, who designed Spaceship One, also funded by Allen. A reasonable overview but very light on the technical side.

[@danoconnell1833]

Note to editor: the background music and degrading filters take attention away from the story.

[@geoffreyhebel2438]

They don't care as long as they get clicks and ad revenue

[@thingsnexttome]

Thank you, finally someone else agrees

[@thingsnexttome]

The background music is so distracting as it almost never lines up with the subject matter. And just the same 3 sound clips for in between chapters The dramatic singing is so overused with this and side projects and probably 2-4 other channels. But cut that shit because I bloody love side projects. Clean that up as well please. It’s just noise. And if you’re thinking, oh, well, we have so much to do then I would say your best bet would be to stop making additional channels that cover the exact same stuff, I mean the amount of topics or subjects that have been chapters inside projects or whole things in mega projects And other channels, I mean, for example, just consider the amount of times Gobekli Tepe or the situations with the Aztecs Has been gone over and over and over and over again you must know you’re covering the same topics over and over

[@IanIsrael]

🙄

[@DMSrunit]

Should definitely use music that fits better

[@timf7063]

One of my old coworkers is one of the test pilots. Got to take a tour and go in the cockpit. Pretty wild airplane. Looks like it is made of paper mache up close

[@pixelsandmagic]

Dope content as always, however, I'm not digging the black and white, old film filters.

[@marsaustralis6881]

Seems like a missed opportunity to mention that the US military got involved too, hiring Stratolaunch to help test additional hypersonic systems, and Talon-A is also part of the project to eventually develop a hypersonic target drone to train weapon systems against. As well, it's been reported that Stratolaunch might become a backup/alternate option to SpaceX in terms of rapidly deploying smaller, replacement satellites in a wartime scenario; at least until the US finally buys their own militarized variant of Starship.

[@jtjames79]

If it was mine I would develop a jet powered lifting body cargo pod. With additional landing gear. Go for doubling the payload. Pick up where the AN-225 left off. I would also work on developing an entire fleet. They would take off and land at exclusive airports just for cargo. You can find cheap land outside of most cities, good enough for cargo. All you need is the flat top, a parking lot, and a security shed. If the cargo pod has enough additional gear, might even be able to get away with dirt runways. Put electric motors on the pods and they can drive themselves.

[@celowski6296]

I was working on there in the Mojave during that time. Was amazing watching that bird taxi and fly that year!! Such an awesome looking plane!

[@AudraK]

Damn Simon’s getting roasted on this one. The edits were becoming a bit much though

[@randomname4726]

The video filters are horrible. Listen to the comments and ditch the filters please!

[@jasmijnariel]

All filters are horrible! It ruins peoples convidence as well.

[@Potato-Eye]

I worked on that for about 7 years. Attached the wing to the body and the trailing edge to the wing. Its like going through a maze crawling through the wing. Inside the body its like a parking garage. Mostly empty. I used to fart into the air conditioner that blew into the wing and listen to the screaming inside.... Then casually walk away. Another time i got stuck in a hole on the bottom of the wing. Lost my pants when they pulled me out!

[@Calastein]

I keep seeing you do this! 227,500 kg is exactly 227.5 tons, not 215 or whatever you said

[@TROOPERfarcry]

Wow, despite an unremarkable top-speed, it none-the-less seriously hauls mass. Plus, I love that it has so many wheels... enabling it to Roc-and-Roll with the best of them.

[@Dobuan75]

Damn I still love this song! As a Papuan 🇵🇬 Islander it resonates in my soul. I don’t speak the language but I hear the message at the depths of my being. We share this common love. Respect to all my brothers and sisters across the vast Pacific.

[@Robotron2084psn]

Why in the fk would you use old timey black and white filter???

[@jondurr]

How about Simon's piss-yellow-aged photos?

[@loribroadbent8573]

Simon, I normally don't complain, but the background music is very distracting and loud. Has been on the past few videos.

[@TheOsfania]

12:30 is this music necessary?

[@colinbarnard6512]

Simon, you KNOW that there is nothing new here. Even before Burt Ruttan from Scaled Composites built Spaceship One, and the Virgin Galactic mothership that looks very similar to your twin-hulled beheamoth, there was the Pegasus rocket (a souped-up Space Shuttle SRB) dropped from a modified 747 for exactly the same reason. Go back 65 years, and B-52's were dropping X-1B's and X-15's in the same manner. Billionaires building joyrides for millionaires is not how humanity is going to permanently set up shop on the Final Frontier. Our best chance, at the moment, is, of course, SpaceX and the Starship-SuperHEavy fully reusable launch system. If that system works as advertised, it will have the democratising effect of lowering launch costs on a per pund, or per kilo basis, and also be able to take more than a half-dozen people up at once- perhaps as many as 100 on one flight. The Startolaunch ROC is a nice looking bird. So is Howard Hughes' 'Spruce Goose'. Sadly, like the Wooden Wonder, the Stratolaunch will have an impossible time competing against SpaceX, especially once Starship is operational. You nd your team put good effort into this vid, and |I thank you for it. But, a ticket to the future this idea ain't. See you at Boca Chita! One request, off-topic: please ask your technicians to stop antiqing video clips to suggest 'way back in history'. A plane this modern and advanced was never films on black and white film, and left in a cupboard for several decades, causing dirst and lint to show up on each film frame. It's an untruth, and a manipulation at several levels, not least is a distortion of history usingf what I call visual rhetoric, the aforementioned antiquing. It's worse than stylized cinema verete. Let's keep it real, boyo!

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

I like how the B-52 enormous wing span and engine pairs allow to compensate for the drop of an asymmetric load. Single fuselage, simple landing gear.

[@aowen2471]

Pegasus is/was dropped from a Lockheed L-1011

[@jiffypoo5029]

Editting footage from 2018 and 2023 to look like the 1960's is a bit weird. Sure, there was a space race in the 1960's but there is HD footage of the Roc.

[@remmus666]

Hi Simon. Thanks for again great video ! Can you tell me which track is playing from 14:35? Awesome

[@WhiteCarBlackWheels]

ive climed through the fuselage of this plane - it's amazing that it gets off the ground! also, talon a 1 flew last weekend! love vids like this

[@phillipstrait9387]

I honestly thought this was a Russian plane from the late 60s early 70s before I started watching

[@petertimowreef9085]

I just can not believe how strong that middle wing section must be, imagine the forces during landing when one set of landing wheels touches down before the other does.

[@cdytracy234]

Such a great company to work for

[@barlotardy]

Roc: "What's your wingspan, son?" Spruce Goose: "Well sir, it's...." Roc: "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR WINGSPAN IS!!!"

[@EAWanderer]

Next Megaprojects? - The big 3 MBTs Challenger II 🇬🇧 Leopard II 🇩🇪 M1 Abrams 🇺🇸

[@AmperahGaming]

LeClerc: :c

[@EAWanderer]

​@AmperahGaming Sure why not

[@specracer28]

I’m honestly surprised the US space force hasn’t scooped this up to launch military sats

[@aowen2471]

There is no rocket part. As stated those who were to build the rocket part dropped out.

[@mikedunajew6122]

ROC such a cool name!!!

[@kevinotter5798]

My cousin was a hiring recruiter for this project. She didn't get to talk about it until the news came out about it.

[@ryanhamstra49]

As of the release of this video, talon flew 5 days ago

[@TheKazragore]

Any heavy-lift capable craft is always going to find a use, be it trucks, trains, planes, or ships.

[@firstfromabove]

What's up with the dumb old timey filter on footage from just over a year ago? There's barely any untouched footage of the aircraft that is supposed to be the entire subject of this video.

[@DMSrunit]

Might need to to have someone that goes all stock editing lol

[@jasmijnariel]

Imagine the moment it releases. It becomes half the flying weight so the moment enormous amounts of lift is created and you must get launched into the sky , pulling G's

[@davids82605]

I find it a pity you didn't mention the Heinkel 111Z (zwilling), that's certainly a lot more relevant to this plane than the twin mustang for so many reasons. Otherwise, great vid as always!

[@waynedieckmann9840]

10:24 what year is this? What does he have an I phone

[@sleeplessstu]

Early concepts for this aircraft involved joining two 747 jetliners together by a common wing. Scaled Composites however discovered that they could create a much lighter aircraft from scratch enabling a heavier payload.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Informative introduction

[@Analouge.motor-photography]

Bv385 is a German ww2 plane that at its time was the biggest plane built it probably deserves a video on this channel

[@jennycraigadventures3314]

The conjoined twins of airplanes.

[@myizukai8478]

And for once in decades the U.S has a plane larger than anything from Europe or Asia but id love to see a joint venture in building a new AN 225 with this tech

[@seanmurry6903]

Can you imagine seeing that thing flying over head? Even at altitude, thats gotta be a very impressive sight.

[@flyingfools47]

The 747-8 is actually longer at over 250 feet. Wingspan is shorter though 6:43

[@TheKalaxis]

Sound mix is way off. The background music is far too loud, especially in the first few minutes.

[@florianbuchi6585]

@megaprojects9649 just out of curiosity, may I ask why there is a difference from kg to tons when you tell us the wheight of something (ex. 600'000kg but then you say it's 650 tons). As far as I know, 1 ton equals exactly 1000kg, but maybe I'm wrong? 🤔😅

[@MapletreePaper]

By "tons" he means US tons, which are 2000lbs or 907.2kg. Basically, it's an entirely different unit, but with the same name. 🙂

[@happilyham6769]

I've known about this thing for a long time but I've never heard it called 'The Roc"

[@galeng73]

If you want to get your weird on, there are aysmetrical mult-tail aircraft out there, which just make my head feel like it's full of mush.

[@hidesbehindpseudonym1920]

This plane is wild... the coolest aerospace project I've seen in a long time.

[@Indyofthedead]

What the hell is with the pointless imovie effects? Did a high schooler edit this?

[@talonsrevision9554]

Have any of your channels done a video on the Indiana Bell Building?

[@cameronklein7980]

Dogma or Slick I think that the episode made it clear that this character doesn't follow orders, which is not very Cody no matter the mind wipe. I think it will be a character we know, but it needs to be one that makes sense

[@MikeWood]

Nice overview of the aircraft. But as others have pointed out, some math issues converting Metric to American and comparing aircraft sizes. And the editing and sound is not up to your previous standards. The instagram film filters and the scoring leave a lot to be desired and detract from the content.

[@davidhetzman5821]

@megaprojects9649 can you do a review on the a-1 skyraider

[@drzorders298]

Awesome aircraft. DrZ🙏🏻

[@aaronosheaarchery]

How wide is the wingspan if measured in lengths of Danny DeVito?

[@oxcart4172]

79.65. You're welcome! 😂

[@aaronosheaarchery]

@oxcart4172 thank you! 😂

[@oxcart4172]

@@aaronosheaarchery No problem! 😂 😂

[@stevenr5534]

It's theoretically possible that an air launch system could cost less than the current booster launch system. Especially if systems like the Space Launch Roc prove to be less expensive than a rocket booster stage.

[@ВездесрущийДемон]

The manager - we need a twice bigger plane. The engineers - no problem, let's weld two planes together. Problem solved.

[@alliedvoyd]

Hilarious that they use an old film grain filter for something that happened a year ago 😂

[@kelevra558]

If theres any sci-fi nerds out there who have read the great insurrection series. The hero of the story whos name is Alistar Caine aka Prometheus, travels to the home planet of his friend, a bipedal rock creature called a Gigante named Ceaser. On this unimaginably dangerous planet there are massive flying creatures resembling dragons in a sense. They're called Rocs in the books. Which i just now found out where the name came from in this video. Check out that book series. Other than the iron hand books they're by far my favorite and theres 9 of them.

[@Valtrex666]

Thanks to those payload measurements, I've learned that imperial system not only has weird pounds but also a ton that doesn't equal 1000kg.... (they actually have two, long and short one because why not .. ) Great video about plane though!

[@BoschhammerActual]

1kg is roughly 2.2 pounds. So 1000kg, a “tonne,” is approximately 2000lbs, an imperial “ton.” The number isn’t the same but the masses roughly are.

[@Indyofthedead]

How about we attach a giant-ass passenger compartment onto the thing and use it for commercial flights? I'm sure you a lot of people and compartment can fill 1 million pounds.

[@oslonafo]

07:44 “Maximum takeoff weight of 650 tons, almost 600’000 kg” Yeah, that’s how metric units work 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@3970danny]

Since the payload is so large, build a massive fuel tank and fly around the globe. Set a speed and altitude record for around the world, non stop flight.

[@dakotahrickard]

I will be surprised if this plane doesn't get to fulfill its primary function. People now know it works, and it seems to eliminate much of the fuel cost of a first-stage rocket.

[@LCTeam2011]

6:45 It's shorter than the 747-8.

[@keithwalmsley1830]

It's basically just two planes stuck together isn't it!!

[@sindrek8]

3 minutes in and this background music is just too much. Or is it Simon talking in the background at this point?

[@sh4un10]

How about doing a video about Japanese armoured vehicles in WW2.

[@theweirdguyinthecorner]

Awesome content but the background music is distracting

[@heartofdawn2341]

Everyday Astronaut did a really good piece on why launching rockets from planes was never going to fly (adiós Virgin Orbit) kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3LXaop6hqqApaM Hypersonic vehicles are another story entirely, and might actually work better this way. The Roc may yet have a better future to come

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

The Roc (mythology) is an enormous legendary bird of prey in the popular mythology of the Middle East.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:35 - Mid roll ads 1:50 - Chapter 1 - Conception & development 6:30 - Chapter 2 - Specs & capabilities 10:05 - Chapter 3 - Operation & future

[@kirinrias6912]

feet.. meter... we need real units like Danny DeVitos!

[@devinacassidy]

"Longer than any commercial jet aircraft in the world," despite the diagram clearly showing that the 747-8 is 3.3 meters longer.

[@davidsmith1310]

Surely it could also find work as a heavy lift aircraft.

[@justinstinemetze5613]

Scaled Composites built the airplane

[@Potato-Eye]

Word

[@fathertimegaming17]

Background music sucks. It's too loud and it's distracting. Did I mention it Sucks?

[@johnshowinc]

I also dislike the grain filter on recent footage

[@dukeofgibbon4043]

The Stratolaunch concept is a supersized Pegasus which was a commercial failure so the logic was questionable. It was built using two 747s for donor parts. All the structure is unique but most of the systems are borrowed which is smart. My favorite is the design engineers used elephant-miles as a unit of measure when designing the wing; even better with its namesake.

[@xwhogafx815]

Decoding the unknown

[@QarthCEO]

No, Starship is the largest aircraft in the world. It's the largest flying thing mankind has ever constructed.

[@lazilexi]

Aircraft are specifically in-atmosphere vehicles, Starship is a rocket designed for out-of-atmosphere flight

[@QarthCEO]

@@lazilexi No, Starship does both atmospheric flight and space flight. It has wings, does arial maneuvers, and lands on the ground. It's far more than just a rocket, it's a rocket powered aircraft.

[@lazilexi]

@@QarthCEO It's not made for atmospheric level flight, it's an orbital (and beyond) launch vehicle and spaceship, not an aircraft. Besides, its wings are control surfaces, not lifting surfaces.

[@QarthCEO]

@@lazilexi Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Aircraft noun an airplane, helicopter, or other machine capable of flight. You're wrong, stop trying to contradict me.

[@lazilexi]

@@QarthCEO spacecraft are made to go to space, aircraft are made to go in the air. simple as

[@BansheeBunny]

The scratched film filter is distracting and unnecessary.

[@scottwilson420]

Boooooooo

[@YoungGandalf2325]

I hadn't even noticed until I read this comment.

[@rayf4925]

I thought this video was about a WW2 Nazi plane at first, and then I read this comment after I heard the word SpaceX. Brilliant!

[@andrewday3206]

That filter was Wonderful Ode the the creativity and dreaming of humanity

[@enragedares5992]

Watching content for free and moaning about it 😂 aaah yes , it truly is 2024

[@Istandby666]

Maybe before I die. I'll go back to visit Mojave one last time. Class of 92, Go Mustangs.....

[@alphyzqrw7222]

I would comfortably live inside if it had a pathway to cross to the other plane just incase the other plane fails 😅😅😅😅

[@Joseph-z7s3b]

I haven't read all the comments, but I cannot be the 1st one to say Can you smellllll.... what the ROC....is cookin'???

[@elliamification]

The backing track was irritating. Please don't.

[@robertdothillary]

Yep, can't unnotice it now... wtf has happened to this guy, I used to enjoy his stuff but it's really tanked in the last year or so

[@ESPLTD322]

Hmmm… so those space ships in Star Wars’ Cloud City were based off a real thing

[@johnsmythe9412]

Have to agree with others here the music was quite annoying. Not again please.

[@tadpole0690]

Imagine boeing building this 😂

[@afolabi-jomboclement2161]

Love the beards 😎

[@roadsplorer]

Pretty cool plane

[@tedsmith6137]

How come the Roc is "the longest commercial aircraft in the world" when it is shorter than a 747-8 and the Antonov AN225? Also the Antonov 225, at more than 1.4 million pounds, has a greater Max takeoff weight than the Roc.

[@Galil-aces]

Fire your editor dude and people would watch more and be less distracted

[@reecedrury4145]

Clues in the title. 'Influencers' are responsible for their audience. Whether that's buying a product or actions towards another individual