Big planes park it temporarily in Moses Lake
The Dreamlifter, among the world's biggest cargo planes, can't land just anywhere. It can and did land in Moses Lake Wednesday.
MOSES LAKE - Okay, so where do pilots land when the destination airport is closed and they're flying a plane that looks as big as a city block? They land where they can, and in this case it's Moses Lake.
Actually the Boeing Dreamlifter might be as big as a city block. It's a modified 747, so big it can hold the fuselage of a Boeing 787. In fact one of the two Dreamlifters was carrying a 787 fuselage when it landed at the Grant County International Airport Wednesday. The second was carrying the 787's wings.
A Dreamlifter is 235 feet long, 211.5 feet wide, and 70 feet high at the tail - actually 70 feet, eight inches tall at the tail, according to the Boeing website.
The planes on the tarmac at Moses Lake make up half the Dreamlifter fleet; four were built, according to the website. They were on their way to the 787 assembly plant in Everett, coming from opposite directions, the wings coming in from Japan, the body from South Carolina, Greg Becken, airport security manager, said.
But alas, landing in Everett was scrubbed due to fog at the airport. It's four stories from the ground to the top of the modified fuselage, Becken said, and a bird that big can't land just anywhere.
The runways at Pasco and Wenatchee wouldn't work, especially for takeoff, Becken said. (A Dreamlifter needs about 9,500 feet of runway to take off.) Parking would be a problem in Yakima, Becken said. That left Moses Lake.
The Dreamlifters are the biggest cargo planes in the world, Becken said, holding about 65,000 cubic feet, according to the Boeing website.