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World Largest Aircraft Takes First Flight, People Note It Looks Like Flying Butt

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Ted Goodman Contributor
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The world’s largest aircraft, a 302-foot helium-filled airship, made its maiden voyage Wednesday 45 miles north of London.

Hundreds of local spectators watched on as the aircraft rose into the air and traveled around the perimeter of a massive airfield before landing about a half hour later. The aircraft has earned the nickname, “they flying bum” because of its unique shape.

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(Video Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal via YouTube.)

The aircraft was originally developed for the United States military, who planned to use it for surveillance in Afghanistan. The U.S. blimp program was scrapped in 2013, and the company who developed the “flying bum” has had to seek funds from government agencies and individual donors.

One Twitter user hilariously compared the aircraft to Kim Kardashian’s famous photo of her behind:

The Airlander 10 can reach a height of 16,000 ft and runs on four turbocharged diesel engines. It is designed to use less fuel, but carry heavier loads than a conventional aircraft. According to its creators, Airlander 10 can travel at up to 90 mph and can stay aloft for up to two weeks at a time.

Hybrid Air Vehicles, the developer of the aircraft, explained how the Airlander 10 is a “combination of an aircraft that has parts of normal fixed-wing aircraft,” and said that “it’s got helicopter, it’s got airship.”

Some experts are still on the fence as to whether or not the public will embrace airships as a mode for transportation. Chris Pocock, defense editor of the aviation magazine, AIN, told the Associated Press that “Airships and hybrids have still got a credibility gap to cover.” Pocock added, “Technically I think they are there now, but economically I’m not so sure.”

Blimps were at one point considered the future of air travel in the early 1900’s. The infamous crash of the Hindenburg in New Jersey in 1937, which killed 35 people, changed public perception of airship-transportation. The Hindenburg disaster is widely credited with killing the idea of passenger-travel-by-blimp overnight.

Unlike hydrogen, which is what was used in early airships including the Hindenburg and other high-profile disasters, the Airlander 10 uses helium which is not flammable.

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