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Airships may indeed be well-suited to tasks like cargo transport, surveying and surveillance, but what really captures peoples' imaginations is the thought of travelling aboard one as a tourist. Well, according to Britain's Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), such a scenario could soon be a reality.
HAV is the developer of the Airlander 10, which is currently the world's largest aircraft. It's powered by four 325-hp (242-kW) turbocharged diesel engines and uses aerodynamic lift like a conventional fixed-wing aircraft to take off, with helium keeping it aloft once it's in the air. Additionally, it can carry payloads of up to 10,000 kg (22,050 lb), stay in the air for five days at a time with a crew, and doesn't require a purpose-built runway.
...
the company revealed that next year, UK-based Henry Cookson Adventures (HCA) will become the first private excursion company to trial the Airlander 10. HCA will be taking the aircraft on its first international flight – an "expeditionary journey" – with an eye towards ultimately using a type-certified version of it for transporting paying customers to remote and exotic locations around the world.
Fancy a sight-seeing flight to Kamchatka?
Previously:
World's Largest Aircraft Repaired and Ready to Fly Again
World's Largest Aircraft Takes Off for the First Time
Airlander 10 - Test Flight Delayed
World's Largest Aircraft "Weeks" Away From First UK Test Flight
Hybrid Air Vehicles Seeking Investors for Airlander 10 Hybrid Airship
World's Longest Aircraft
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 28 2017, @12:39PM (2 children)
From the previous article titles, they are really insistent on calling it the "world's largest aircraft". Is that to distance itself from the Hindenburg (referred to as an "airship")?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2017, @01:49PM
🏆 world's biggest bum
🏆 world's most puffed-up blimp
🏆 world's most hyped aircraft
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Sunday October 29 2017, @02:24AM
Everything that flies and carries people is an aircraft. An airship is an aircraft suspended by a lighter-than-air gas.