It's with that context that everyone watched the first flights of Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander, a modern and massive airship originally designed for the U.S. military and now aimed at life as a commercial transport. On its second test flight, the Airlander crashed. Yet unlike the iconic airship tragedies burning into our collective memory, the Hybrid Airship appeared to bump into the ground, and then level out. No fires at all! (The Airlander is filled with helium, instead of the much more combustible hydrogen that filled the Hindenburg).

On 24 August, the prototype Airlander 10 undertook its second test flight and flew for over 100 minutes, completing all the planned tasks before returning to Cardington to land. The Airlander experienced a heavy landing during which, the aircraft sustained some damage. Both pilots and the ground crew were unharmed and the aircraft is now secure inside its hangar and is being fully inspected ahead of carrying out all necessary repairs.

We believe it useful to outline the steps we will now implement to ensure a safe return to flight test.

The Company is now undertaking a thorough investigatory process to ensure that all relevant factors which contributed to the heavy landing are identified and that steps are taken to remedy them or to ensure that the risks associated, are properly and safely mitigated before the aircraft returns to flight. This process will involve a report to and discussions with the relevant aerospace industry regulators and our insurer. Through the investigatory process we will arrive at a definitive understanding of the root causes of the event and the necessary steps and timescale to safely return to flight.

Airships may no longer be solely the domain of art and nostalgia. Making a modern airship work, especially after a crash, is the domain of science. It appears that Hybrid Air Vehicles is going to figure out how to avoid the problem in the future, methodically.