World's largest aircraft damaged in test flight crash landing

The world's longest aircraft, theAirlander 10 airship, has crash-landed after a test flight inBedfordshire, central England, its British manufacturer HybridAir Vehicles said on Wednesday.

The airship, which is bigger than the size of sixdouble-decker buses, sustained damage on landing from its second
test flight, Hybrid Air Vehicles said, adding that all crew weresafe and well following the incident.

Privately owned Hybrid Air Vehicles denied a report on theBBC that the airship had hit a telegraph pole.

"No damage was sustained mid-air," the company said onTwitter. Hybrid Air Vehicles was not immediately reachable by
telephone.

The 92-metre Airlander 10 made its first test flight earlierthis month and the company had posted photographs of it up inthe air before Wednesday's incident.

Once the concept is proven, Hybrid Air Vehicles hopes thehelium-filled giant will be able to stay airborne for up to two
weeks, and that potential customers might want to use it tocarry cargo or deliver aid, for surveillance, communications orleisure purposes. It can carry 48 passengers.

The Airlander can take off and land vertically meaning itdoes not need a tarmac runway. It can also operate from open
fields, deserts, ice or water.

Airships have a long history stretching back to the 19thcentury, although their popularity dipped in the face of
competition from aeroplanes in the 20th century and high-profileaccidents such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937.

Hybrid Air Vehicles told Reuters in March that it aimed tobe building 12 airships a year by 2018.