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Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

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TheMightyOz
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Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by TheMightyOz » Fri May 12, 2017 9:17 am

Well it finally arrived, the moment I'd been waiting for since 24th August last year. Airlander returned to the sky!

With all the approvals in place, Bedfordshire eyes were on the weather and the buzz on social media was that Wednesday looked suitable. With the last flight in mind I arrived at the Cardington airfield fence around 8am. The light on Airlander is from behind at this time of day, so great for photos. Unfortunately there was a disappointing lack of activity on the airfield, so I settled in for a long wait.
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Around 9.30am a very nice man from Hybrid Air Vehicles came over to the handful of us on the fence and informed us that the plan was for a 2pm flight, so we should expect to see activity on the airfield from around 1pm, as starting the engines is a 45 minute procedure due to EASA regulations, despite on needing 5 minutes. With this information under my belt I went to work until lunch time. I returned around 12.30 to make sure I was there before the engines started, as that's when the crowd would start building and would become harder to park. On arrival there was a an Airlander Club tour on the airfield, so we knew nothing would happen until they left.
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The visitors left the airfield, 1pm came and went with no increase in activity and we started to worry as the wind seemed to be picking up. The nice man from HAV returned at about 1.30pm and informed us that take-off had been pushed back to around 4.30/5pm to await the correct wind conditions as specified by EASA for phase 1 of flight testing. Photography-wise this wasn't going to be ideal as it meant shooting into to the sun and through a lot of heat haze. Eventually things started happening and Chief Test Pilot Dave Burns and Experimental Test Pilot Simon Davies, pictured, walked out to the aircraft.
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The fire engine had arrived on the airfield and the red flags were deployed so we knew that engine start was imminent.
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The engines started...
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..and they began to disconnect the ropes from the MMM (Mobile Mooring Mast). This was when we knew that a flight was definitely happening, rather than just ground testing.
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The covers came off the skids...
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...and were dragged out of the way.
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The final ropes came of the MMM...
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..and as the RAF attempted to distract us with a pair of Chinooks...
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...the MMM started to push Airlander into position for take off.
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The local police took time out from ensuring that people were parking sensibly to join the party.
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Airlander disconnected from the MMM and we were good to go!
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more follows...

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TheMightyOz
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by TheMightyOz » Fri May 12, 2017 9:19 am

...and we're back.

To everyone's delight, Airlander left the ground...
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...climbed almost straight towards us...
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...to the airfield boundary,...
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...almost straight over our heads...
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...and off over the beautiful Bedfordshire countryside...
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leaving a very happy crowd.
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The first part of this test flight was general handling, so there were various climbs, dives and turns allowing us to see Airlander from various angles and at different attitudes.
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Another pass overhead allowed a good view of the cockpit and the ALS (Auxiliary Landing System) covers.
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The EASA conditions for phase one of flight testing require that she stays within 15 miles of the airfield and below 4,000 feet, but they stayed lower and closer on this flight so that Airlander was never out of sight of the crowd at Cardington.
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The crowd continued to be impressed.
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Even more follows...

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TheMightyOz
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by TheMightyOz » Fri May 12, 2017 9:21 am

The second part of this test flight involved practice landings at 2-3000 feet, so the ALS was deployed.
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After several practice landings had been completed, Airlander approached the airfield...
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...and came in for a not-quite-touch and go...
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...giving me a good view of the ALS and how much it must impair the crew's vision once deployed...
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...and climbed away for another circuit...
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in some beautiful light.
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She approached again...
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...silhouetted by the sunset.
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Almost down.
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Safely on the deck in front of the Cardington airship sheds...
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...and back on the MMM.
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Fantastic to witness. Well done HAV.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures.

Cheers,
Oz

jonf45
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by jonf45 » Fri May 12, 2017 2:04 pm

Fantastic journal of the day, thanks for sharing, love the sunset shots :clap:

lardyboy999
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by lardyboy999 » Fri May 12, 2017 9:40 pm

Very well documented, thank you.

Looks like you had quite a day!

:thumb:

Bat 21
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by Bat 21 » Sat May 13, 2017 8:01 am

Smashing post and great pictures :thumb:
Location: Northumberland (The Big Bit Between Newcastle & Scotland)

My Pics on Jetphos

https://www.jetphotos.com/photographer/95829/photos

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TheMightyOz
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by TheMightyOz » Wed May 17, 2017 1:15 pm

Thanks for the comments guys. I've finally finished editing all of my shots (over 500) from the day. Will post a couple more of my favourites later.

Cheers,
Oz

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andygolfer
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by andygolfer » Wed May 17, 2017 2:02 pm

super report Mark, i'd missed it earlier due to my Italian travels. looks like the long wait was well worthwhile - well done

andy
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Mike
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by Mike » Wed May 17, 2017 4:27 pm

Wonderful. :)
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TheMightyOz
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by TheMightyOz » Wed May 17, 2017 5:52 pm

Thanks guys.

Here's a handful more photos.

Cheeky lens flare.
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Over the old mooring mast winch sheds.
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Being watched.
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Post-touchdown dramatic sky.
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They said they would need a week or so to analyse the data before the next flight and a week has passed now, so hopefully she'll be back up soon. Will be keeping my eye on the weather.

Cheers,
Oz

Alexe
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Re: Airlander takes to the sky! 10/05/17

Post by Alexe » Fri May 19, 2017 12:21 pm

Fantastic photos and a great description of the whole event.

Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

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