Our favorite airship is due to take to the skies once again and with a spotted test history its being closely watch by many! After a rather unfortunate nosedive in august last year the Airlander has yet to grace the skies since.
The Airlander has been dreamt up by british engineers as green alternative to regular flight, delivering goods and surveilance flights to areas lacking in infrastructure and combines the 'free lift' principles of airship flight with the more common aerodynamics of aircraft. Measuring a mere 38,000 cubic meters the Airlander 10 is nothing short of a behemoth, and once tested its big brother, the Airlander 50, will be almost 3 times the size! |
The Airlander is expected to fly soon, with testing only beginning a week ago we can only hope to see it in the skies soon! After an incredible campaign Hybrid Air Vehicles is in the final phases of funding, and is following up with a complex testing schedule; if you'd like to help fund this innovative project you can invest in their business here. | So, after 7 months the Airlander is back out on the Cardington Airfield, with a few new features: The Auxiliary Landing System (ALS) has been added to deploy just before landing, its purpose is to protect the cockpit in the event of a nosedive. The second notable modification is that of a new mobile mooring mast, and the ability to retrieve the mooring line more easily. this was a factor in the the incident in august so hopefully they will be able to avoid those power lines ! |