Cougar_ml Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 So this particular design seems like it's going to end up as the butt of a lot of jokes... World's largest aircraft prepares to take off. Airlander 10, a spectacularly huge, helium-pumped aircraft, is unveiled fully assembled for the first time, in a giant aviation hangar near London. The Airlander 10 is a hybrid airship, achieving lift, and thereby flight, via both aerostatic and aerodynamic forces. Unlike most airship designs, it does not have a circular cross-section, having adopted an elliptical shape with a contoured and flattened hull. This shaping is deliberate so that it acts as a lifting body, contributing aerodynamic lift while the airship is in forward motion; generating up to half of the airship's lift in a similar manner to that of a conventional fixed-wing aeroplane. Buoyancy is also provided by helium contained within the envelope, the pressure from which maintains the airship's unique shape. Between 60 percent and 80 percent of the aircraft's weight is supported by the lighter-than-air helium. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&P15T Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 You're looking at it from the "taint" angle. Dunno man...... 300 ft. length. The Hindenburg was 804 feet long. It's not really "spectacularly huge", as the article suggests. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aomagrat Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 If helium only supports 60 to 80 percent of it's weight, does this thing need a runway to take off like a conventional airplane? If so, what's the point? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huaco Kid Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 You probably don't want to pull that, strategically placed, "plug" out of the middle. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeorge Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 reminds me of the back view of Oprah or Rosie O'Dogface 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbie18 Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 I assume the pilot gets made fun of by all the other pilots. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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