1. 1. Bigger than A380

The Airlander 10 the world’s largest flying machine. Airlander 10 is much bigger than the world’s largest aeroplane, an A380, but flies much lower and slower.

2. ability to carry 10 tonnes

The Airlander 10, named after its ability to carry 10 tonnes, measures 92 metres long, 43m wide and 26m tall. It’s shaped like a traditional airship, made of super-strong carbon fibre and filled with helium to raise it.

3. U.S. Army project

The Airlander was originally developed as a part of a U.S. Army project, but was dropped by the higher-ups in 2012 and it is now being converted into a business that offers leisure flights from a hangar in England’s Cardington, Bedfordshire.

4. How Big is it..! 

The 300-foot-long vessel was filled with 1.3 million cubic feet of helium during a test run in October and the engines and fins are being fitted before the aircraft’s first flight with its new specifications next month. The exact date for its flight has yet to be announced, but the craft will be restricted to flying within a 70-mile radius.

5. Woven fabric

Its composition includes a woven fabric for strength on the inside, and a Tedlar layer for protection on the outside, sandwiching a mylar film to retain the helium.Materials used throughout the manufacture of the Airlander 10, range from bespoke hull fabric to the mainly carbon composite mission module; fuel module; ducts, and engine support battens.

5. worth of $1.1 billion

This model alone is worth $1.1 billion and has fairly complex flight systems. The Airlander produces 60 percent of its lift aerostatically (because it is so light) and 40 percent aerodynamically (because of its wing-shape, as well as having the ability to rotate its engines).

6. Special feature. 

These features allow the craft to hover as well as land on nearly any surface, including water, desert, and ice. With anything this large, it doesn’t move very quickly (cruising speeds at 90 mph), but it can stay in the air for two weeks at a time and reach heights of 20,000 feet with a 10-tonne cargo.

7. Major Investor.

The project was initially given £60 ($122) million by the US government before it was pulled by the military for being too costly. It was then shipped over to Britain, where it received $26 million of private investment cash including government and EU grants worth $12 million. The project is backed by various celebrities including Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson and Richard Branson.

8. 1.3 million cubic feet of helium

The vessel was filled with 1.3 million cubic feet of helium – enough to fill 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools – in a test run last October and now the engines and fins are being fitted ahead of next month’s flight. The craft has already been tested with a successful hover test, with the hull being filled with helium and floated outside the aircraft hanger in November, but this will be the first test once the engines are successfully attached.

9. Test flight 

The main purpose of the test flight is to start amassing the 200 hours of flight time any new design needs before it is declared airworthy by the Civil Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

10. Future plans 

“It’s very satisfying for the team and me to get another milestone under our belts. We’re hugely excited about the forthcoming Airlander First Flight this year,” Mick Durham, Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Technical director said in a press release. If the flight is successful, this prototype will then go into production.

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