regulator which will provide the
necessary approvals for the
AIRLANDER to fly (Flights
Conditions and Permit to Fly).
Working with EASA and the UK
CAA, HAV have established
airworthiness and safety systems to
manage the design and certification
for the AIRLANDER 10.
Innovate UK's enabled a small
increase in the technical team size
and further established closer
partnering with two keys suppliers,
Blue Bear Systems Research and
Forward Composites, and three new
academic partners in the University
of Liverpool, University of Sheffield
and Cranfield University.
Following on this this initial
certification effort, in May of 2015,
HAV applied for a Type Certificate
for AIRLANDER 10 and from this
agreed the route to the flight with
EASA.
The LOCATE project wind tunnel
testing and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) study continued into
2015, delivering data that
underpinned technical upgrades to
AIRLANDER 10. The LOCATE
project propulsion testing began in
January 2015 and took 7 months.
In May 2014 HAV were awarded a
£4 million ‘InnovateUK’ grant by the
Technology Strategy Board which is
Government-backed. The project
was about developing LOw CArbon
TEchnology, so we call it LOCATE.
The award helped to further develop
the AIRLANDER technology. By
January 2015 the test programmes
were underway. The grant from
7
In February 2015 HAV started the
Airlander 10 Engine Test Program
that would retest and re-certify the
engines for flight. In addition to
inspecting the engines and propellers
for any damage they may have
suffered during deflation, packing
and transportation to the UK, the
engines were also put through a
complete set of tests to measure
thrust to generate engineering data.
As well as being run with the
propeller enclosed in a duct, they
were also tested without the duct to
measure the difference in the amount
of thrust generated. This
configuration may be used in the
future.
On November 14 HAV received
confirmation of a £3.4 million
government grant, from the
Aerospace sector of the UK
Government’s Regional Growth
Fund, which has been a major
contributor to developing Airlander
for flight in 2016. Local MP Alistair
Burt, whose constituency includes
the famous Cardington Hangars, is a
strong supporter of HAV and said at
the time, "I am delighted at the
success of Hybrid Air Vehicles in
winning this award, which is further