AIRSHIPS
Almost a century since airships were last seen as the future of air travel, a new generation of helium-filled giants could be on the horizon
It’s being billed as sky yachting – a return to a stately form of travel from a bygone era, one that fascinated visionaries as far back as Leonardo da Vinci and Jules Verne, whose time may have come around again.
Just don’t refer to these new floating wonders as airships, says the British company at the forefront of this latest technology. The correct term is Hybrid Air Vehicles – graceful giants whose makers believe offer not only the cleanest way to fly, but also a new era of inter-city travel, and an opportunity to capture the high end of the tourism market.
Luxury expeditions to the North Pole as early as next year are already being advertised. Safaris from the air over the African savanna, or hovering over some of the world’s most famous landmarks, are envisaged soon after.
The game-changer is the Airlander, a craft built by Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a Bedfordbased company made up of key talent from the British aerospace industry. Its luxury version has been described as a ‘flying five-star hotel’, carrying 100 passengers and crew. Makers also believe the Airlander can revolutionise short-haul flights and freight transportation.
‘We believe we are creating a new category of transport,’ says HAV’s chief technical officer Mike Durham, ‘one that best meets the requirements of our new greener times.’ The golden age of the old-fashioned airship ended in the 1930s, when the photograph of the Hindenburg crashing in flames became one of the 20th century’s most enduring images. So what’s different about its modern-day successors? For the answer we have to go back to the 1970s, and HAV’s founding genius. Roger Munk was originally a marine architect, who pioneered what is now known as lighter-than-air (LTA) technology.
Most crucially, his vessels relied on helium, an inert gas that – unlike the hydrogen that powered the Hindenburg – is non-f lammable. Munk also dispensed with the latter’s heavy internal framework over which its outer skin was fitted, instead pumping up an envelope made from the latest polyesters. The helium’s pressure maintained the vehicle’s shape and provided most of its lift. Munk died aged 62 in 2010, just as his vision began to attract attention.
Work on the technology has continued slowly since, but the demand for cleaner transport has recently created a market for the Airlander. ‘We burn so
