World’s largest aircraft take-off delayed
15 / 08 / 2016
We will have to wait a little while longer before the world’s largest aircraft makes its maiden flight.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) expected its airship Airlander 10 to take off from Cardington Airfield in Bedfordshire last Sunday (August 14) but last-minute technical hitches have forced a postponement.
The helium-filled Airlander 10 measures 302ft (92m) long, a good 50ft longer than the biggest passenger jets in the skies today.
It wouldn’t be the largest man-made object to take to the skies – the US military version of the Airlander, from which HAV took over the design after the project was abandoned in 2012 – did manage a test flight in New Jersey.
And the Hindenburg airship of the 1930s was a mind-boggling 804ft long. The Airlander 10 – and planned the larger Airlander 50 which will be able to carry 50 tonnes – is being pitched for a range of commercial uses, including cargo transport, surveillance and tourism.
