EcoGeek –
The “world’s largest aircraft,” the Airlander 10, is being readied for flights to begin later this year. The Airlander 10 is a massive hybrid aircraft that combines helium lift, aerodynamic lift, and direct thrust for flight. As we’ve noted before, we are big fans of airships (and even if there are tradeoffs in time and energy costs, we think that there is definitely a place for them in certain niches of air transport), so this is exciting news.
Company information from Hybrid Air Vehicles cites a number of reasons for finding this airship so appealing to EcoGeeks:
“The revolutionary Airlander 10 combines lighter-than-air technology with the best of aeroplanes and helicopters to bring brand new capabilities to aircraft. We produce less noise, less pollution, have a lower carbon footprint, longer endurance (remains airborne for up to three weeks) and better cargo-carrying capacity than virtually any other flying vehicle, with the ability to land and take-off from any surface, including ice, desert and even water.”
At over 300 feet (92 m) long, the Airlander 10 [pdf] is roughly the length of an American football field, and its total envelope is 1.34 million cubic feet (38,000 cubic meters). But the aircraft itself weighs only about 20 tons (20,000 kg). It is the latest in a series of hybrid airship concepts that have been in development over the past several years, and the Airlander itself is the continuation of the now-cancelled US Army LEMV airship.
We are certainly glad to see that the civilian uses of this technology continue to be pursued. It’s also good to see the apparent improvements in the technical performance of the craft. When we covered this in 2012, it had a cargo capacity of 7 tons, while the current payload is up to 10 tons. The Airlander 10 has an endurance of 5 days for manned flights and a cruise speed of 80 knots (148 km/hr).
via: @hottopicnz
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