The largest passenger-carrying aeronef of the pre-superwing era - and the second-largest aeronef of any type, exceeded only by the same manufacturer's Teliríän's Talon-class lifting-body cargo hauler - was unquestionably the Simurgh-class skyliner.
The brainchild of fêted designer Amélys Skybreaker of Cisspatiale Aerospace, Simurgh was intended to be the ultimate subsonic skyliner, combining Imperial standards of luxury with an increase in passenger capacity sufficient to ease the increasing demand on the Empire's primary air routes.
To this end, the Simurgh was designed as a double-hulled catamaran design, using two fuselages (each similar to the hull designed for the earlier Cisspatiale Skywhale) linked by a central "fatwing", large enough to allow passage between the two in flight, and mid-tailplane. Each fuselage contains two primary passenger decks, above a divided cargo deck (loaded independently via forward and rear ramps), topped with a forward-mounted dome; these passenger decks can each hold 120 passenger seats, giving the Simurgh a hitherto unmatched capacity of 480 passengers. On the ground, the combined fuselages rest atop six-wheel main landing gear bogies distributed in three pairs four to aft, a total of 36 main wheels, along with paired steerable four-wheel nosewheel bogies.
The Simurgh is powered by six Electrodyne™ Tempestuous magnetoaerodynamic vortex-jet engines, tapping a pair of Stellergy, ICC accumulator power-pods. (An option exists to replace these with Empire Nucleonics, ICC modular reactors, at some limitation to range, maximum speed, and service ceiling.) These six vortex-jets are distributed evenly across the wings on pylons, with two centrally attached beneath the fatwing, and the remaining four on the outer wings. The power pods are encapsulated in the roots of the fatwing.
A great many technical breakthroughs were involved in the design of the Simurgh, including most notably the advances in high-strength composite materials making it possible to construct an aircraft of its extraordinary wingspan at an acceptable weight. (Although even with these, the wingspan of the Simurgh is less than optimal for an aircraft of its maximum takeoff weight, requiring a longer chord and more powerful engines.) The use of advanced simulations in designing an optimal configuration of winglets, vortex generators, surface texturing, and other aerodynamic features is also worth noting when considering the Simurgh's overall performance and relative lack of wake turbulence. The airframe, indeed, is composed almost entirely of composite materials, and laser microwelding and polishing techniques are used to eliminate almost all joint-related "roughness" present on the exterior hull.
The Simurgh's avionics use the standard WeaveControl™ networked architecture, fully wired with wireless backup, and with a full glass cockpit, as had become the practice on previous Cisspatiale designs. Since the Simurgh has an offset flight deck, however, its design incorporates advanced head-up display technology permitting the pilots to make use of views taken from camera inputs mounted on the fatwing, or other points around the aircraft, to maintain greater situational awareness in flight. The Simurgh also incorporates an advanced in-flight network for passenger information and entertainment, which can be considered the forerunner of the Shipboard Information Service found on every starship.
Finally, the Simurgh was also the first aircraft to fully eliminate the use of hydraulic actuators: the fly-by-wire computers move the aircraft's control surfaces directly using electrical linear actuators based on early myosynth gel prototypes, reducing both mass and complexity.
Specifications
Flight deck crew: Four (captain, first officer, flight engineer, purser)
Seating: 480 seats
Overall length: 240' (73.15 m) Wingspan: 336' (102.41 m) including 48' (14.63 m) fatwing Overall height: 120' (36.58 m) including 40' (12.1m) skydome
Operating empty weight: 712 t (1,570,000 lb) Takeoff weight (max): 1,438 t (3,170,000 lb)
Engines:
- 6 x Electrodyne™ Tempestuous 72-IVb magnetoaerodynamic vortex-jets;
- powered by 2 x Stellergy, ICC accumulator pods
Thrust (total): 780,000 lbf (3,470 kN)
Cruise speed: 580 kt Range: 8,400 mi (using accumulators) Service ceiling: 54,000 ft
Internal Layout
Internally, the Simurgh can be divided into the two fuselages, port and starboard, each of which has four decks (including the short "skydome" deck at the fore of each fuselage). The majority of this space is laid out identically on each side of the aircraft.
The lowest deck is always configured as cargo space, capable of accepting intermodal freight containers. Each of the two cargo decks is in turn divided into a forward and aft cargo hold, since a small area in the middle of the aircraft is taken up by the galley - a term which obfuscates the fact that the Simurgh is provided with two full restaurant-style kitchens (and wine cellars) capable of serving freshly cooked meals to the passengers aboard.
The upper and lower passenger decks are configured similarly, with available passenger doors at fore and aft on each level of the aircraft on the outboard side, and two staircases (spiral at the front, continuing up to the Skydome, and straight to the rear) linking them. Each is configured with 120 seats, themselves arranged into dual pods with configurable sound damping and privacy shields, which are in turn arranged down the length of the cabin to left of, right of, and between the two wide aisles. The pods are staggered to avoid the harshness of strict rows, and interspersed with occasional features of interest.
Where the fuselages are joined by the fatwing, a broad corridor extends linking the lower passenger decks in each fuselage. This corridor is located a short distance behind the leading edge of the fatwing, and the Simurgh's designers took advantage of the availability of composites which were strong, refractory, and transparent to equip this corridor with a wide, curved, full-height window, offering magnificent views of the sky outside. On the other side of this corridor, most operators place a number of comfortable couches for passengers to enjoy the view, and hang above them art particularly commissioned for the aircraft and its route.
The differences between the fuselages become most obvious at the cabin ends. In the port fuselage, the forward end of the lower passenger deck is reserved for the flight deck, and the corresponding space on the upper deck assigned to purser's stores. To the starboard, of course, no such considerations apply, and the designers have chosen to end the upper deck a little early and fit the front of the aircraft with double-height panoramic windows, creating an airy lounge and bar.
As for the remaining spaces, both the Skydomes - the spaces on the uppermost decks built beneath transparent domes such that they feel like travelling in the sky itself, open to the clouds - and the aftmost spaces of each passenger deck have been left open for each operator to use as they will. Selecting from a variety of options depending on route and passenger demographics, the Simurgh has played host to piano lounges, spas, office centers, skymalls, coffee houses, quiet rooms, night-time sky tours, travelling exhibitions, public baths, and dozens more specialized configurations.
Truly, in her time, the Queen of the Skies.
- Aircraft of the Pre-Space Period, Kozaryo Mei
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://eldraeverse.com/2025/05/21/sky-chonker
