Airlander 10, The World’s Biggest Airship Slowly Nosedives Into the Ground During Second Test Flight

While attempting a landing from its second test flight, Airlander 10, the world’s largest hybrid airship, very slowly nosedived into the ground on the landing strip at RAF Cardington Airfield in Bedfordshire, England. Luckily, no one was hurt. This incident occurred just a week after making its first successful test flight on August 17, 2016.

Today the prototype Airlander 10 undertook its second test flight and flew for 100 minutes, completing all the planned tasks before returning to Cardington to land. The Airlander experienced a heavy landing and the front of the flight deck has sustained some damage which is currently being assessed. Both pilots and the ground crew are safe and well and the aircraft is secured and stable at its normal mooring location. Hybrid Air Vehicles runs a robust set of procedures for flight test activities and investigation of issues. We will be running through these in the days ahead as we continue the development of the Airlander aircraft. Further updates will follow in due course.

The day started out with such hope.

The successful first test flight of the Airlander 10 on August 17, 2016.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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