In just about a month’s time, a dynamic new project will claim the title of the world’s largest aircraft. Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has announced that its groundbreaking Airlander 10 will make its inaugural flight this March.
The 301-foot Airlander 10 combines elements of both airships and helicopters in order to achieve flight. When filled with helium, its hull is the size of a football field and as tall as six double-decker buses stacked on top of one another. The Airlander can take off vertically, and soar as high as 20,000 feet high in the sky.
But the HAV team will be taking things relatively easy for the plane’s first time up in the air. HAV partnerships head Chris Daniels told AerospaceTechnology.com:
“During the flight-test program, we are limited because it is a prototype aircraft. Because it is under flight testing conditions, we cannot take passengers. It will probably be the second aircraft we make that will be a passenger variant.”
And while the Airlander 10 isn’t the only unusual new aircraft we’ve seen floated as the future of flight, what do the creators see as the potential use cases? Daniels continues:
“We have had a lot of interest in operators looking at luxury tourism and safaris and various sorts of leisure flying. We think that will be an amazing experience, slow-flight, floor-to-ceiling windows, just being able to watch what’s going on.”
HAV intends to build a 48-passenger business class or luxury version of the Airlander 10 next, and has no plans to focus efforts on an economy-class cabin. Notably, while the Airlander is largely a UK-based effort, the project was funded in part by the U.S. government, which poured $300 Million in grant money into the Airlander before deciding it wouldn’t have practical military applications after all.
But for all of the technology and innovation involved in launching this futuristic, record-breaking new aircraft, The Internet’s response seems to be stuck on just one thing:
(Culled from www.roadwarriorvoices.com)
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