The world's longest aircraft, dubbed 'The Flying Bum' is set to go into full production to take its first passengers to the skies after successful final tests.
It comes after the Airlander 10 prototype was retired after it collapsed and plummeted into a field.
Also at BBC:
The world's longest aircraft is to go into full production with a model that will take its first paying passengers.
It comes after the prototype £32m Airlander 10 - a combined plane and airship - was formally retired following successful final testing.
As a result, Bedford firm Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has been given Production Organisation Approval from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
[...] The firm was given Design Organisation Approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) in October.
Stephen McGlennan, HAV's chief executive, said 2018 had been very good, with Easa's backing a "huge highlight".
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday January 15 2019, @08:32AM
And why not? The safety record in absolute values are highly in favor of airships - just compare the number of dead passengers in blimp accidents vs plane accidents (large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford