Watch the world's biggest 'flying bum' go arse over tit in a crash

The Airlander 10 hybrid – part airplane and part airship – has had a bumpy touchdown after piling into its landing site nose first. The 92-meter (302-foot) aircraft gets 60 per cent of its lift from the helium that fills its two massive airbags, which have earned the aircraft its nickname of the Flying Bum, although the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Certainly looks like a stall...

...but the video only shows the very end of the action.

I found a longer video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Slv6E5ntQ

Clearly it's not a true stall. Seems like they lost control for some other reason.

[Mark 85]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

Various reports in the media say that a ground handling cable that was hanging down snagged on something.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

It DOES look like a cable snag! Maybe they ought to change the name from "Airlander" to "Groundpounder".

[rjmx]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

> Maybe they ought to change the name from "Airlander" to "Groundpounder".

... or "Crashlander" (h/t to Larry Niven).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

I suspect that the pilot may not have appreciated just how severe the nose-down attitude was

Are you sure? Got no airship piloting experience to draw on; but I would have thought that being strapped into a shed on the bottom of that thing would give you an immensely detailed appreciation of angles. Aside from anything else, he would have started spilling tea once it went past about 15 degrees off horizontal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

It doesn't really look like a stall at all - in the longer vid, linked above, the Airlander is already in a nose-down attitude before the final pitch-down. Also, if you full-screen the higher res video in the Reg article, you can see a grounding line hanging below the rear of the control cabin but it doesn't appear to get snagged; it just seems to drop vertically until just before touch-down.

What appears to happen is that the front ducted fans continue to be vectored backwards along the axis of the craft while it's descending, driving it downwards. Then, when it's clear that the attitude is too extreme, the fans start to be vectored downwards but not by nearly enough - they are still largely pointing backwards along the axis and continue driving the craft downwards.

I doubt that the fans are that restricted in their vectoring limits so I suspect that the pilot may not have appreciated just how severe the nose-down attitude was and so just didn't vector the fans enough: Controlled Flight into Terrain.

I'll be interested to read the AAIB report when it's out.

[Ralph B]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

I think I might have an idea who was piloting this thing.

[Matt Bryant]

Re: Ralph B Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

"I think I might have an idea who was piloting this thing." I've already heard the inevitable jokes about the possibility it was a female pilot, women drivers and parking.....

[fnj]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

@LeeE:

I doubt that the fans are that restricted in their vectoring limits

I believe (and this info is very difficult to pin down) the forward propulsors are limited in swivelling to +-20 degrees. But additional thrust vectoring is available through using the movable vanes in the propwash. It's very difficult to impossible to judge the final vector direction by inspection.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

"I believe (and this info is very difficult to pin down) the forward propulsors are limited in swivelling to +-20 degrees."

I don't know what the vectoring limits are but as the Airlander is designed to operate in (slightly) heavier-than-air mode I'd be very surprised if the fans can't be vectored directly downwards to help compensate for varying loads whilst taking-off and landing. In fact, if you're going to fit vectoring fans on a craft of this type, I'd be a bit surprised if they can't be vectored in any direction, especially directly forwards, to aid braking and positioning.

If you're going to fit vectoring fans I just can't see any good reason for limiting the vector range at all unless the designers only stressed the fan mountings for that +/- 20 deg range, which would seem to be either a bit of an oversight or an indication of marginal performance (in some respect) that could only be addressed by limiting the stress capability of the fan mountings.

If the fans are limited to just +/- 20 deg, I'd be very curious to know exactly why because given the entire context i.e. not just the type and design of the craft, but also its originating customer and intended purpose (military), those limits just don't seem to make much sense.

[werdsmith]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

I don't think you can stall a wing at near zero airspeed, though maybe they were into wind and the breeze dropped suddenly. Or a breeze picked up and aerodynamically caused the pitch down. I could imagine that being such a big area, once the nose is pitched down into wind then they would be fighting a very large aerodynamic force trying to force it down more.

It looked like the rotating engine pods at the front weren't capable of turning directing much downward thrust that could have helped level the thing.

Sitting in that cockpit would have felt like they were going in at a much steeper angle than it looked from outside. At least, though, all they need to do to repair is to bolt another shed on the bottom. Maybe attach a couple of straw bales to it next time though.

[SkippyBing]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

'I don't think you can stall a wing at near zero airspeed'

Pedantically wings stall at an angle of attack, specifically the one where the flow separates from the upper surface. It's just easier for pilots to use the airspeed this happens at as it's actually displayed in the cockpit. However that airspeed will change with all up mass and g-force.

[werdsmith]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

You don't have an angle of attack without airspeed.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Certainly looks like a stall...

"At least, though, all they need to do to repair is to bolt another shed on the bottom. Maybe attach a couple of straw bales to it next time though."

Maybe in the next iteration, put the shed on the top and all soft bouncy stuff on the bottom. Just in case, like.

[Robby-O]

Try doing THAT in a regular jet...

[DoctorNine]

It's a ship.

They should have pumped ballast to the rear of the ship, like in a submarine. Seems like a malfunction of attitude control led to the collision.

Of course, I've seen a few individuals at the local pub who also had this issue.

[Sawari Ma]

Re: It's a ship.

You pump the ballast to the rear. I'll watch...

[Matt Bryant]

Re: DoctorNine Re: It's a ship.

"They should have pumped ballast to the rear of the ship....." An interesting idea - maybe it was a ballast issue, but also a control issue in that they accidentally pumped water ballast forward in a panic when they should have pumped it aft. Some flying accidents are caused by the pilot being twisted round to look aft and then moving the controls the wrong way, then compounding the problem by pushing the controls even more the wrong way in panic. It would explain how the dive seemed to continue to steepen rather than starting to recover.

[JassMan]

Re: DoctorNine It's a ship.

Admittedly I don't know the details of this particular ship but I have flown on an Airship Industries Skyship 500 and the pilot assured me that all the other airships he had flown used ballast to change the pitch attitude. Not surprisingly they use air, not water, as they don't need to carry it around with them when it not needed. Basically, there is a large bladder at each end, with a very big fan pushing air in when required. This has 2 effects:-

1) air is surprisingly heavy when you have enough of it (or light in a hot air balloon)

2) the volume occupied by the by the bladder pushes on the helium balloon thus reducing the lift at that end of the ship.

I was slightly surprised when he showed me the bladder evacuation system which consisted of a rope and pulley which lifted a big flap and let the air out again. Simple but effective. On the Skyship, the pilot achieved 30° of pitch up which I think was mainly due to the bladders since it has no aerofoils.

[Antron Argaiv]

I like big butts, but I cannot fly?

[DNTP]

Tell 'em to shake it!

Baby got aerostat!

[GrapeBunch]

Tummy Makem's take: "He Liam".

[Captain DaFt]

Optional Headline:

"Flying Butt Lands Arse Down"?

[Leeroy]

Re: Optional Headline:

Maybe 'Giant airbags soften blow' or 'Torpedo tits up'.

Seriously though, how much helium ? I thought it was a scarce resource.

[Preston Munchensonton]

Re: Optional Headline:

Given this quote:

It was developed at a cost of $100m for the US military, was sold back to its makers Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) for just $300,000...

Headline should read: All of us are in the wrong business

[theblackhand]

Re: All of us are in the wrong business

While the US military sold the HAV for $300k, they kept the wall that the $100 million was pissed up against...

[joed]

Autonomusly driven?

or just trying to fly under the radar?

[Mpeler]

Buns? You want buns?

Looks like one of the Kardashians.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Buns? You want buns?

I'd forgotten about Deep Space 9 but I can't say I can see a resemblance.

[Luke 11]

Re: Buns? You want buns?

It's far prettier.

[TWB]

Shame

I hope this is not the end for this thing - having held a PPL for HABs many years ago, I've been intrigued by LTA and similar flight. I like it and have been hoping someone would get something of this ilk working.

[Paul Hovnanian]

Oh, the humanity!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sigh. Airships just don't crash the way they used to....

[John Brown (no body)]

It'd never have happened if they used proper old fashioned hydrogen instead this new-fangled twince as heavy helium!

[Lee D]

As someone on Slashdot pointed out. This thing need 38,000 cubic metres of helium to operate. Yeah, that stuff that's rare, almost impossible to create, used for vital things like science and medicine.

And they want to build ten, and larger versions? The helium costs alone would become prohibitive over time, and there's a lot better things you could be doing with it than having the world's slowest crash in a giant ass-shape balloon.

[Anonymous Coward]

It wasn't slow for the guy in the gondola....

[AndrewV]

That's not entirely true.

Until recently there was no point conducting helium mining exploration because the US were artificially depressing the price by running down their massive stockpile.

Now that's almost exhausted, exploration has begun. And quite successfully too http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36651048

[Flocke Kroes]

Almost impossible to create?

Helium is relatively easy to create. It is a by-product in the manufacture of tritium, and a waste product of experimental fusion reactors. Manufacturing elements is expensive and only worth the trouble if the element does not exist naturally and has a profitable / military use. Even collecting naturally occurring Helium is not worth the effort - unless someone creates a market for it by, for example, flying giant airships.

[Suricou Raven]

Re: Almost impossible to create?

Helium production by that means would be ridiculously expensive. Helium currently produced is a byproduct of natural gas production - over geological time enough has accumulated from captured alpha particles that it can be (just barely) profitable to purify and ship it.

[Archivist]

Let's party!

You mean like party balloons?

The purity of helium affects it's usefulness, so this helium was probably useless for anything except elevation.

[Tom 7]

Re: Let's party!

like its 1919! septemberish

[John Smith 19]

"Yeah, that stuff that's rare,.. used for vital things like science and medicine."

Actually mostly found being bled off oil wells in Texas. And IIRC the US is selling it's entire strategic reserve (about 1 billion cubic metres) on the open market because they did not need that much for err strategic uses.

It''s been along time since I thought the only way you could get He was distilling air.

It's not.

[cray74]

Yeah, that stuff that's rare, almost impossible to create, used for vital things like science and medicine.

Earth's atmosphere has 3.77x10^12kg of helium, enough to fill 555 million Airlanders. And if they spring a leak it goes back in the atmosphere.

Helium production by fractional distillation of air isn't cost effective when the competing source is sticking a fancy steel straw in the ground, but it's not rare.

[fnj]

@cray74:

Well, all neon is produced by fractional distillation of atmospheric air. However, it costs $330/kg. The volumetric concentration of helium in the atmosphere, however, is less than one third that of neon, so it would be extremely expensive to produce using this method. Logic would suggest at least $3000/kg (the density being 1/3 as much as neon in addition to the concentration being 1/3 as much).

Right now, helium extracted from natural gas costs only in the general neighborhood of $20-30/kg.

[Anonymous Coward]

Suggestion for El Reg: Go to Cardington and photograph the hangar...those are sheds on an epic scale that you simply won't believe until you see it. I used to live near there; saw them multiple times and still don't believe it. The Cardington sheds are one of those things that you don't believe while looking at it. Take someone else, so they can be a tiny dot in front of the doors for perspective.

Sheds as landscape. If you can make those invisible, I'll be genuinely impressed.

[JohnMurray]

Now with a recovered Hanger, paid for by the builder of the new village currently being built around the airfield.

[imanidiot]

Recently visited the ex CargoLifter hangar in eadt Germany (now a tropical swimming pool/resort). The scale of these buildings is just mindboggling. You feel truly tiny standing under something that big. (The cargolifter hall could contain the eiffel towe on its side. With room to spare)

CargoLifter was btw also the previous company to try this exact idea. They built the hangar and promptly ran out of money.

[asphytxtc]

Indeed, they are ENORMOUS.. I live and work just around the corner from them (got to see the flying bum yesterday as well from the office). Even when you're standing right next to them, the scale of them still doesn't compute.. incredible buildings, and look fantastic after their refurbishment too.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

"Sheds as landscape. If you can make those invisible, I'll be genuinely impressed."

Easy. Just paint it pink and fire up the good old SEP field.

[Tom 7]

Cardington

went there years as a kid. My Grandad was an engineer on the R33 and I think he helped park it there. I seem to remember it was bigger than outside.

[Jonski]

If I HAD to crash

Then I would rather do it ten times like this than once in any conventional aircraft, including gyrocopters.

And I've done it once in a conventional aircraft. Well, glider.

[JeffyPoooh]

Blimp Crashes...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! LOOK OUT!!! OH MY GOD, WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!!"

... ... ... ... .:bonk:. ...

[Baldy50]

Re: Blimp Crashes...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! LOOK OUT!!! OH MY GOD, WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!!"

... ... ... ... .:bonk:. ..."BUMMER!" Pilot to ground crew.

[phuzz]

Re: Blimp Crashes...

To be fair, it must have been pretty scary for the pilots, stuck out in the gondola with the ground, slowly, slowly, coming, right, at, them.

The suspense would make it worse.

(and looking at the 'after' photos, it might have looked soft, but it smashed up the cabin pretty well.)

[Tom 7]

Re: Blimp Crashes...

"The suspense would make it worse." No - a gondola without suspense is a brick,

[Matt Bryant]

Re: phuzz Re: Blimp Crashes...

"....it might have looked soft, but it smashed up the cabin pretty well.)" True, but a conventional aircraft nosing in from that height would probably have left a smoking crater! One of my relatives had a great story from 1940 about how his experienced CO, Squadron Leader Hurll Chester, wrote off a Blenheim bomber at zero feet and zero knots! After landing at Upwood, he meant to select flaps UP (standard procedure when parking the Blenheim), but accidentally selected gear UP - the resulting damage was severe enough the airframe was written off and used for ground instructional purposes!

[Filboid Studge]

Re: phuzz Blimp Crashes...

Yup, it happens, or the opposite...gear up while landing. Oh well, walkaways are good - I'd rather have this one. Highly embarrassing but less risky.

[Joe Werner]

Didn't we have that....

... earlier in Germany? I seem to recall that there was this Cargolifter company, and they planned an airship with the capacity for 160000 kg (or some outrageous number). Money was burnt - mostly small investors, if I recall correctly. The hangar now houses a "tropical" wellness / swim thing. It is also a nice navigational landmark ;)

I liked the idea, though.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: Didn't we have that....

Sure did. I nearly invested, because AIRSHIPS!!! Luckily I ended up buying a motorbike instead.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Didn't we have that....

> Sure did. I nearly invested, because AIRSHIPS!!!

Best advice I've heard about making a small fortune in aviation:

Start with a large fortune.

[Putters]

Martha Gwyn ?

A quick google doesn't reveal the source, but I think could be quite 'fun' to meet the Martha Gwyn that inspired the name ...

[JetSetJim]

Re: Martha Gwyn ?

Quick google didn't take you to wiki?

"Named the Martha Gwyn after the company chairman's wife"

Admittedly, the source for this is the Daily Fail, but I'm not going to link to that rag, but the Chairman of Hybrid AirVehicles is Philip Gwyn (according to their wiki, and I'm too lazy to check further)

[Putters]

Re: Martha Gwyn ?

Bizarrely I missed the first item in the search.

Can only think of two reasons for that.

1) Automatically assumed it was an Ad and not a proper search response.

2) Failing eyesight - whatever the cause ...

[TitterYeNot]

Re: Martha Gwyn ?

"Named the Martha Gwyn after the company chairman's wife"

Martha Gwyn: "You've named your airship after me? Oh how sweet! Is it becouse you love me Darling?

Philip Gwyn: "Nah love. It's becouse you're slow, have your head in the clouds most of the time, and your arse is so massive you can't sit down without crushing something..."

<SLAP>

[TeeCee]

Re: Martha Gwyn ?

Don't suppose she looks like a dead heat in a zeppelin race?

It would all make sense then...

[Aqua Marina]

Yeah baby yeah

I was reminded of the road roller incident in the first Austin Powers movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4UFQWKjy_I

[Black Rat]

<sigh> I was hoping to see the Thunderbird Six come to the rescue

[Pete 2]

But will it blend?

We might find out if one of these ends up anywhere near a wind farm.

[Tom 7]

Re: But will it blend?

mmm Salami!

[WereWoof]

Airship vs fixed wing "It`s an entirely different type of flying altogether"

[fnj]

Airship vs fixed wing "It`s an entirely different type of flying altogether"

Not exactly entirely different. The physical realities governing airship flight are a superset of those governing fixed-wing flight. Both have aerodynamic influences following the same physics, and to these the airship adds aerostatic influences.

Both can blunder into the ground.

[Anonymous Coward]

> Airship vs fixed wing "It`s an entirely different type of flying altogether"

Landings are much the same, based on this video and my personal piloting experience.

[Adam 52]

Well I appreciated the reference even if nobody else did.

[John Smith 19]

Personally I'd liket to see it drifting through moutains with engines off

To watch birds of prey flying around it through the observation windows, completely oblivious to our presence.

Just a thought.

[Stoneshop]

Re: Personally I'd liket to see it drifting through moutains with engines off

completely oblivious to our presence.

ITYM 'undisturbed'. A bird unaware of a 100 nanowales arse floating nearby will quite likely have serious trouble locating anything smaller, such as prey.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Personally I'd liket to see it drifting through moutains with engines off

Considering that it's not a lighter than air craft, engines off would result in a descent. Not sure what the rate would be, but probably best not to drift for too long.

[Mystic Megabyte]

My theory is static electricity wot dun it!

If you rub a balloon on your jumper it will stick to the wall. So was this blimp attracted to the ground?

icon: going down ===============>

[Stevie]

Bah!

Thus demonstrating the real problem with airships (as opposed to the ones "everyone knows"), the problem that killed so many in the Glory Days of the Dirigible: when you have a bouyancy mechanism providing the lift that relies on having lifting masses of gas very far apart, local changes in air density can kill you faster than you can yell "release ballast aft!" as a machine longer than however many sperm whales laid nose-to-tail flies into a pocket of air denser than that in which the tail of the craft is currently situated.

Shortly after this the poorly-named aerostat will nose-stand and the crew will individually release ballast aft.

Unless the ground gets in the way first.

[Suricou Raven]

Re: Bah!

The main aim of this design is to solve that problem. It's not a purely helium-lift - it has ducted fans too. Without those it's actually just a little heavier than air. The fans can respond very quickly in order to maintain attitude.

That's the idea, anyway. Looks like they still need to work a few bugs out.

[Sparkypatrick]

'... the crew will individually release ballast'

Is that a euphemism?

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: '... the crew will individually release ballast'

Well, yes, the full quote being "...the crew will individually release ballast aft'

[Stevie]

Re: eupamism?

Actually it's a bit more than that, but you'd have needed to read the entire post before replying to catch it.

8o)

[Toltec]

I wonder if to the pilot it was like a low speed car crash on an icy road? You know something has gone wrong, nothing you do makes any difference and in the time before impact hope gives way to inevitability.

TL:DR Oh shit!

[All names Taken]

Hmmm

I can see why it was referred to as 'she'

[Albert Hall]

Navigational malfunction

Someone got a bum steer.

[Matt Bryant]

Come on.....

Hasn't anyone thought to blame it on a Welsh drone pilot yet?

"Get ready for landing! Switch off the anti-crash software!"

.............."Oh crap!"..............GRRRIIIINNNDDD!

[All names Taken]

Re: Come on.....

No - I don't think they are like that here.

I mean they will post it eventually but it takes, well, you know, ..... time?

[Allan George Dyer]

Last year's dance craze...

Twerk it!

[lukewarmdog]

I hope, back in the hangar, someone asks "does my bum look big in this".

[Filboid Studge]

So, this is some previously unknown form of Kardashian?