The world’s largest aircraft, which has been dubbed the Flying Bum because of its obvious similarities to a human butt, crashed into a telephone pole this morning.
The proper name for the aircraft is the Airlander 10. It took its maiden flight on August 18 and took off on a second test flight in Bedfordshire, England this morning. The first flight was successful; the second was clearly anything but. Fortunately, the Flying Bum’s owners report that no one was injured in the crash.
The Flying Bum is selling for £25 million and is supposed to stay airborne for five days. The key words here are “supposed to,” because obviously the Airlander 10 isn’t quite at that point yet. Videos showing the crash of the aircraft, which is 302 feet long and has a 10-ton carrying capacity, were uploaded shortly after it occurred.
Hybrid Air Vehicles, the company behind the aircraft, released a statement on Facebook assuring everyone that the Flying Bum’s crew were unharmed in the crash:
Today the prototype Airlander 10 undertook its second test flight and flew for 100 minutes, completing all the planned tasks before returning to Cardington to land. The Airlander experienced a heavy landing and the front of the flight deck has sustained some damage which is currently being assessed. Both pilots and the ground crew are safe and well and the aircraft is secured and stable at its normal mooring location. Hybrid Air Vehicles runs a robust set of procedures for flight test activities and investigation of issues. We will be running through these in the days ahead as we continue the development of the Airlander aircraft. Further updates will follow in due course.
Airlander 10 is expected to be commercially available in 2018. It was originally revealed in 2014 and has been seen as the potential future of air travel — and the butt of a million jokes — ever since.
