Airlander 10: World’s Largest Aircraft Prepares to Take to the Skies
12th March 2016
The Airlander 10 – part-plane, part-airship, and all of 90m long – is being assembled by the firm Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) on a site that has been associated with airships since 1915 when Shorts built the first giant hangar to build the R-31 and R-32.
The craft is nearing completion and later this month, if wind conditions permit, HAV’s chief test pilot, David Burns, will take the huge lighter-than-air craft east towards the A1M motorway. Passing drivers could witness the beginning of a revolution in air travel, cargo transport, military surveillance and even disaster relief.
The Airlander 10 prototype, which HAV hopes will be the first of 1,000 craft, is 25 per cent larger than a Boeing 747 and is designed to remain airborne for up to five days.