Airlander 10 giant airship crashed

The world's largest aircraft, Airlander 10 , crashed this morning during a second test flight near the Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire (United Kingdom). The airship named Martha Gwyn slowly dived its nose into the ground and damaged the cockpit.



Representatives of the company Hybrid Air Vehicles, which developed the Airlander 10, reported that the crew was safe, no one was hurt: "The test flight was really good, and the only problem occurred during the landing." The company also refuted a statement by one of the witnesses that Airlander 10 had touched a telegraph pole several hundred meters before landing.
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The cockpit is located in the damaged cockpit. Photo: South Beds News Agency

The first test flight of the Airlander 10 took place on August 17 and was successful . The vessel made one lap over the airport and landed in about 30 minutes.

The 92-meter Airlander 10 airship (43.5 m wide, 26 m high) was originally designed by order of the American army. It was supposed to be used for observation, but then the project was curtailed as part of budget reduction measures. In May 2015, Hybrid Air Vehicles resumed development on its own initiative. She claims that this ship, worth £ 25 million, can be used for communications, freight, surveillance, humanitarian missions and passenger traffic.

Airlander 10 is about 18 meters longer than a Boeing 747 passenger aircraft. A helium-filled airship aircraft can carry payloads of up to 10 tons and fly without landing for up to five days in a row with the crew on board, and in unmanned mode without cargo - up to three weeks . The maximum speed is 150 km / h.

Hybrid Air Vehicles expects to release the first ten copies of the Airlander 10 by 2021, and then proceed to the development of an even more overall Airlander 50 with a lifting capacity of 50 tons.