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World's largest aircraft ready to take off

World's largest aircraft the Airlander 10 leaves its hanger based in England for the first time.

By :  R Ayyappan
Update: 2016-08-09 07:04 GMT
World's largest aircraft the Airlander 10 leaves its hanger based in England for the first time.
It has now formally received permissions from both, European Aviation Safety Agency and the UK Civil Aviation Authority to take its first flight. However, a launch date has yet to be announced for the same.
\"Last week we successfully completed our final in-hangar all engines, all generators, all systems testing. My thanks to the whole business for getting us here. The entire team is looking forward to the final series of tests outside before taking to the skies for the first time. It was a very smooth first journey for Airlander and she behaved beautifully. We're delighted to have reached this significant milestone,\" said the project's technical director, Mike Durham.
It required £25million and over 10 years to be completely prepared for a flight.
What is interesting to note is that it does not require a runway. Therefore, it could easily be used to transport cargo to remote areas.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the airship was officially named the Martha Gwyn, after the wife of the Hybrid Air Vehicle's chairman, Philip Gwyn.
The craft is 90 m (301 ft 10 in) long and holds a capacity of 10,000 kg (22,050 lb). It weighs approximately 20,000 kg and has been nicknamed, The Flying Bum' due to its structure. With a cruising speed of 148km/h (92 mph; 80 kn), it can carry up to 48 passengers.
While, it was originally developed as a part of a US Army project; the same was abandoned back in 2012. A British company, Hybrid Air Vehicles later converted the aircraft for civilian use.
Part-airship, part plane; it left its hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire at 4 am on Saturday to commence a brief series of ground system tests before its first flight later this month.
The Airlander 10 is a hybrid airship made by Hybrid Air Vehicles in the UK. It is the largest aircraft in the world, which was built as a part of the US Army's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) project.
World's largest aircraft the Airlander 10 leaves its hanger based in England for the first time.

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