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The World’s Largest Aircraft Is Ready To Fly Again

By March 13, 2017 No Comments
Airlander Flying From Rear

Since sustaining structural damage to the Flight Deck when it took an unexpected nosedive during its second test flight on 24 August last year, the giant Airlander 10, is now repaired and preparing to take to the skies once more.

Currently undergoing extensive testing prior to its next flight, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), the company behind the World largest airship and which counts Bruce Dickinson amongst its investors, recently announced a number of improvements to enhance its safety and performance.

A new Auxiliary Landing System (ALS) fitted forward of the main landing gear (skids) allows the Airlander 10 to land safely at a greater range of attitudes than previously before. This new ALS provides a pressurised air cushion which contacts the ground during a landing.

Additional improvements have also been made to ground systems to reduce the possibility of equipment failure. In particular to overcome the problem with the mooring mast winch that triggered the crash last August when the mooring line became caught on power cables. This has since been overcome with the ability to recover the mooring line once it has been released from storage so that it does not interfere with the approach and landing of the aircraft.

Detailed analysis of the Airlander’s performance on both of its August test flights have also been used to enhance simulator training to provide more realistic examples of normal and emergency scenarios that flight crew might be called upon to respond to.

Before announcing dates of the next phase of test flights, HAV are putting Airlander through its paces with a rigorous testing programme as CEO, Steve McGlennan said:

“Throughout the last six months we have been heartened by the many messages of support from people outside our immediate business who understand the learning process that is at the heart of flight test. We have every confidence that, in delivering the key learning points that we have identified, we will be in a great position to deliver a safe, robust and effective flight test programme when we get back into the air. We look forward to showing off the best of British innovation and Engineering to the world again very soon.”

The Airlander 10 is the first hybrid aircraft of its kind that combines the best characteristics of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters with lighter-than-air technology to create a low noise, low pollution, environmentally friendly aircraft with a lower operating costs than other forms of aircraft.

Bruce Dickinson delivers keynote speeches that talk about this innovative airship and his passion for aviation. To enquire about booking him for your conference or event please contact Dave Daniel at CSA Speakers: dave@speakesr.co.uk or +44 1628 601 411.

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