Wow thanks so much for the many replies!
I don't think many airports pavement would carry that load. A lot of airports needed strengthening etc for the A380.
Good point. But I wasn't too familiar with airport pavement design. I thought if I added more wheels the distribution of weight will be spread out similar to an A380 or 747. Could you share some numbers?
It is a huge undertaking to make an airport usable for the A380. Very expensive and time consuming.The required space for runways, taxiways,clearways and gates is burdensome as is. To go even larger is probably uneconomical. Gate space is at a premium at many airports, larger gates mean less total available.
I think you're missing the point. I'm trying to look at a design that would allow more payload than an A380 without going beyond the runway, taxiway, gate requirements of an A380.
I can only imagine that ground effect must be a pig on landing w.r.t. pitch control in box configuration aircraft.
One concern could be the position if the engines behind the front wing. At moderate angles of attack they may encounter disturbed air.
I'm thinkin' deep stall here...
I guess so, but well never know without simulation and testing.
Why design an aircraft with 6 engines?
Plenty of room for 4 777 engines.
Less is better for efficiency, reliability (6 times more likely to have an engine failure than a one engined aircraft)
I know, except 4 777 engines is not enough. An airplane this size may require 645kN thrust each compared to 514kN of the GE90. This would require a totally new engine technology.