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After almost six months, Airlander 10 has finally been repaired and will continue its flight test programme. Back in August the giant airship crashed into the ground, crushing the flight deck—but somehow the crew escaped unscathed. The flight deck's instrument panels, overhead console, and associated wiring had to be reinstalled.
There will now be a period of "rigorous" training and testing before the blimp once again takes flight, which will presumably be later this year.
Following an investigation after the crash, Hybrid Air Vehicles said it "fully understands" the root causes of the incident—but it didn't say what those causes were. We've asked the company for more details and will update this story if we hear back.
Source:
Previously:
Hybrid Air Vehicles Seeking Investors for Airlander 10 Hybrid Airship
Airlander 10 - Test Flight Delayed
World's Largest Aircraft Takes Off for the First Time
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 13 2017, @01:31AM
I really hope they succeed, and open up the market for airships the way Tesla has EVs. Cruising around the world in an airship would be my ultimate dream. Also, it would be gratifying for that Hindenburg meme to die once and for all.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday February 13 2017, @01:55AM
The Nazis lost the war. Deal with it. I suppose you yearn for the good ol' days of the Hindenburg?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 13 2017, @02:14AM
Oh, the humanity!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 13 2017, @12:45PM
Goddammit.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Monday February 13 2017, @06:18PM
Got your tunes ready? [youtube.com]
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 13 2017, @09:12PM
This thing is already a failed prototype they bought back from the US army or something. And a few years back, a startup in Germany also tried to build something very much like this under the name "cargolifter" - too slow, too vulnerable, too cumbersome to operate. Their huge hangar in the boons of east germany has been converted to a greenhouse with a "tropical" holiday resort. For passenger cruises, there is a smallish fleet of "Zeppelin NT" produced by Zeppelin that mostly does expensive sightseeing trips around Lake Constance and occasionally gets hired for environmental monitoring. (As far as I know Goodyear bought two or three fairly recently to replace its older, non-rigid airships)