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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jasper Jolly

‘The flying bum’: can a UK firm making huge airships finally get off the ground?

A digital mock-up of Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Airlander 10 aircraft
A digital mock-up of Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Airlander 10. At 98 metres long, it is the largest aircraft in the world. Photograph: Hybrid Air Vehicles

It’s a dreary day in Bedford, but on a flight simulator the skies above San Francisco airport are blue and the wind is low. That is a good thing, because there is an amateur at the joystick of the world’s biggest aircraft.

The flight simulator models trips by the Airlander 10, which is part airship, part aeroplane. If all goes to plan for its designer, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), two dozen will be built each year from 2030 at a factory in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

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