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World's Largest Aircraft Crashes In World's Smoothest Accident

Airplane crashes usually happen at high speed and end up in a violent manner. There are usually casualties, and people get injured.
Airlander 10 moments before its crash 7 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Airlander 10 moments before crashAirlander 10 moments before crashAirlander 10 moments before crashAirlander 10 moments before crashAirlander 10 moments before crashAirlander 10 moments before crash
However, what about a blimp crash? Well, Airlander 10, the world’s largest aircraft, has crashed during a test flight. Since it is more than just a blimp, its accident is considered a plane crash. Since it happened during landing, it was flying pretty sluggish.

Because of this, the accident is probably the world’s smoothest and slowest plane crash, which also happens to be the world’s largest aircraft.

According to Hybrid Air Vehicles, the makers of the craft, reports claiming that the plane had struck a telegraph pole are erroneous. The makers of the blimp claim that no damage was sustained mid-air, and that everything that happened to the cabin was caused by the impact with the ground.

The best part of this accident is that nobody was injured, and a bonus is that it was recorded and posted on YouTube. You can view the video below, which depicts the final phases of the 100-minute-long test flight, the second of its kind for this impressive creation.

Hybrid Air Vehicles will continue development work on the Airlander 10, and the company is committed to building the Airlander 50. The second model mentioned will be capable of carrying 50 tons, and will share the Airlander’s capability of landing on a very short runway, whose only requirement is to be placed on a flat surface.

As we mentioned before, the Airlander 10 is 302-feet long, and the current version is capable of carrying 22,050 pounds (10 metric tons) of cargo. Since it has multiple engines and controls similar to a conventional airplane, this craft is considered an aircraft instead of just a blimp.

The most interesting part of this plane, if size is not taken into consideration, is that it can remain aloft for up to three weeks at a time. Hopefully, they will improve its landing technique by the time it advances development.

 

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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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