Airlander 10 damaged during flight
The world’s longest aircraft, the Airlander 10, has been damaged after nose-diving during the landing of its second test flight.
Airlander 10 is a 92m-long hybrid aircraft – part plane, part helicopter and part airship. It was damaged at its base at Cardington Airfield, UK, on 24 August.
The Airlander successfully completed its first test flight without incident on 17 August.
However, the £25m (~€29m) craft sustained damage to its cockpit when it hit the ground during its second test, at about 11:00 (BST).
First developed for the US government as a long-endurance surveillance aircraft, the British firm, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), launched a campaign to return the craft to the sky after it fell short of defence cutbacks.
In a statement, HAV said: “The Airlander experienced a heavy landing and the front of the flight deck has sustained some damage which is currently being assessed.
“Hybrid Air Vehicles runs a robust set of procedures for flight test activities … We will be running through these in the days ahead as we continue the development of the Airlander aircraft.”
It is about 50ft (15 metres) longer than the biggest passenger jets and uses helium to become airborne, travelling at speeds of up to 92mph (~148km/h).
HAV also added that all the crew were “safe and well”.
The huge aircraft is able to remain airborne for approximately five days during manned flights.
Funding for the aircraft is supported by Horizon 2020 and is drawn from the ‘Smart, green and integrated transport’ Societal Challenge.
The company hopes to be building 10 Airlanders each year by 2021.
