Airlander 10: prototype of world’s longest aircraft retired

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The Airlander 10 in flight at Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire in 2016.

UK firm behind plane-airship hybrid says it will ‘rethink the skies’ to build new model.

A prototype of the world’s longest aircraft, the Airlander 10, will not be rebuilt but engineers are set to “rethink the skies” with a production-ready model.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), the Bedford-based company that created Airlander 10, has already received Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval, and it is hoped the new airship model will take to the skies by the early 2020s.

“Our focus is now entirely on bringing the first batch of production-standard, type-certified Airlander 10 aircraft into service with customers,” said Stephen McGlennan, the company’s chief executive.

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U.S. Air Force Giant Spy Blimp Could be Afghanistan’s Biggest Brain

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“Blue Devil”

Come this fall, there will be a new and extremely powerful supercomputer in Afghanistan. But it won’t be in Dave Petraeus’ headquarters in Kabul or at some three-letter agency’s operations center in Kandahar. It’ll be floating 20,000 feet above the warzone, aboard a giant spy blimp that watches and listens to everything for miles around.

 

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Hydrogenase: Self-sufficient Organic Airship

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Hydrogenase

Vincent Callebaut’s latest project, Hydrogenase, aims to create a self-sufficient organic airship.   This conceptual transport system would be comprised of airships that produce biofuel from seaweed.  The project draws its inspiration from nature, as well as from the qualities of its materials and its self-manufacturing processes.  (pics)

 

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