WORLDAirlander 10, world's longest aircraft, revealed in new pictures
PTI | Mar 20, 2016, 08.27 PM IST
(Picture: Hybrid Air Vehicles)
LONDON: New photographs of the world's longest aircraft have been made public today ahead of its official unveiling and first UK test flight.
The Airlander 10, which is part plane, part airship and part helicopter, is 92m long - around 15m longer than the biggest passenger jets.
The British firm Hybrid Air vehicles (HAV) have designed the craft to stay airborne for up to three weeks using helium and the vessel is able to travel at a speed of 92mph.
HAV will unveil the aircraft, standing at 26m high and 44m wide, in a First World War aircraft hangar in Bedfordshire on Monday and it will undergo its first test flight in a few weeks' time.
As it is heavier than air, the Airlander 10 is able to land without tethers on a variety of surfaces, including water and ice, Sky News reports.
It was first developed in 2009 for the US government as a long-endurance surveillance aircraft but its manufacture was hindered by defence cut-backs.
HAV believe the craft could be used for a host of functions including surveillance, communications, delivering aid and even passenger travel.
It is hoped the Airlander 10 will eventually be developed to be able to transport 50 tonnes of freight.
The British firm have also stressed how the vessel, which is silent and emits no pollution, could be a breakthrough for air travel.
The firm is hoping to build 12 Airlanders a year by 2018, some of which can be used as passenger aircraft able to carry up to 48 people at a time, the BBC reports.
Chris Daniels, HAV's head of partnerships, said: "This fantastic story of British innovation getting a unique aircraft fully assembled to do something both useful and commercially viable.
"We are ready to show the world the potential it can achieve in monitoring, search and rescue, cargo, aid distribution and even passenger roles," Daniels said.
(All images courtesy: Hybrid Air Vehicles)
The Airlander 10, which is part plane, part airship and part helicopter, is 92m long - around 15m longer than the biggest passenger jets.
The British firm Hybrid Air vehicles (HAV) have designed the craft to stay airborne for up to three weeks using helium and the vessel is able to travel at a speed of 92mph.
HAV will unveil the aircraft, standing at 26m high and 44m wide, in a First World War aircraft hangar in Bedfordshire on Monday and it will undergo its first test flight in a few weeks' time.
As it is heavier than air, the Airlander 10 is able to land without tethers on a variety of surfaces, including water and ice, Sky News reports.
It was first developed in 2009 for the US government as a long-endurance surveillance aircraft but its manufacture was hindered by defence cut-backs.
HAV believe the craft could be used for a host of functions including surveillance, communications, delivering aid and even passenger travel.
It is hoped the Airlander 10 will eventually be developed to be able to transport 50 tonnes of freight.
The British firm have also stressed how the vessel, which is silent and emits no pollution, could be a breakthrough for air travel.
The firm is hoping to build 12 Airlanders a year by 2018, some of which can be used as passenger aircraft able to carry up to 48 people at a time, the BBC reports.
Top Comment
Vajay Malya became bankrupt otherwise he was the first person to buy this kind of aircraft.Chris Daniels, HAV's head of partnerships, said: "This fantastic story of British innovation getting a unique aircraft fully assembled to do something both useful and commercially viable.
"We are ready to show the world the potential it can achieve in monitoring, search and rescue, cargo, aid distribution and even passenger roles," Daniels said.
(All images courtesy: Hybrid Air Vehicles)
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Brazil's Lula sworn in over protests; Rousseff faces impeachment
Reuters | Mar 18, 2016, 06.43 AM IST
BRASILIA: Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as chief of staff to his successor Dilma Rousseff on Thursday as a judge sought to block his appointment and Congress began proceedings to impeach her amid the country's deepening crisis.
Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition demonstrators who clashed with Lula's leftist supporters outside the presidential palace where he was sworn in, while ministers and corruption investigators traded barbs throughout the day.
Demonstrations also blocked major avenues in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, spurred by anger that Lula's appointment will shield the former president from prosecutors who charged him with money laundering and fraud as part of a sweeping graft probe centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.
Only Brazil's Supreme Court has jurisdiction in cases against ministers. Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, a federal judge in Brasilia issued an injunction against Lula's appointment on the grounds it blocked "the free exercise of justice."
Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo vowed to appeal the injunction against Lula joining the government, which he called the decision of a partisan judge.
The standoff inflamed tensions that are already running high between Brazil's executive and judiciary branches, as the snowballing Petrobras probe reaches Rousseff's inner circle and hangs over a congressional impeachment committee named on Thursday.
Calls for Rousseff's impeachment have centered on allegations, unrelated to Petrobras, that she broke budget rules intentionally to boost spending as she campaigned for re-election in 2014. A 65-member impeachment committee of the lower house will now formally begin studying whether there are sufficient grounds to remove her.
Deliberations could drag on for months. But hotly contested seats on the committee, amid vocal calls from some opposition lawmakers for Rousseff to resign, were spread among all parties in the lower house of Congress.
"The panel includes moderates, allies and opponents of the government," said Leonardo Picciani, leader in the lower house of the centrist PMDB party, Rousseff's main governing partner.
Rousseff and Lula have both denied any wrongdoing.
READ ALSO: Rousseff-Lula tape release triggers protests in Brazil
Brazil's benchmark stock index rallied 6.6%, the biggest daily jump in seven years, and the Brazilian real firmed 2.3% as the political crisis increased bets that Rousseff's ouster could bring a more market-friendly administration to power.
The real's 10% gain so far this month led the central bank to scale back its currency intervention.
Rousseff appointed her mentor, who remains one of Brazil's most influential politicians six years after leaving office, in an effort to fight impeachment and win back working-class supporters amid the worst economic recession in decades.
The corruption probe, however, has weakened Lula's sway in Congress and there are growing signs that Rousseff's main coalition partner is ready to abandon the unpopular government.
Brazil's powerful industry lobby, the CNI, said the political crisis was having "catastrophic" consequences for businesses and called on the country's politicians to overcome their differences to restore confidence.
"UNDERGROUND WAR"
As Rousseff swore Lula into office, she strongly criticized the release on Wednesday of a taped telephone conversation between them that was made public by Sergio Moro, the crusading federal judge overseeing the Petrobras investigation.
Moro, the public face of the biggest graft probe in Brazilian history, said the tape showed they had discussed influencing prosecutors and courts to protect Lula, who leaves Moro's jurisdiction.
"Convulsing Brazilian society with lies, with reprehensible practices violates constitutional rights and as well as the rights of citizens," said Rousseff, who called the recording illegal and anti-democratic.
Judiciary association and prosecutors working with Moro sprang to his defense, repudiating what they called efforts to intimidate him and his team of investigators.
"Those telephone conversations provide evidence of obstructing the investigation, part of a treacherous underground war waged in the shadows, far from the courts," wrote thirteen federal prosecutors on Moro's task force in a public statement.
Moro said in a court filing released on Wednesday that the taped telephone conversations did not provide proof that Lula and Rousseff were interfering with his investigation.
He said, however, that he released the recordings because citizens had a right to know how they were being governed.
One recording, made public by the court, included Rousseff offering to send Lula a copy of his appointment urgently "in case it was necessary" - a possible reference to the ministerial post providing him with immediate immunity from arrest.
Brazil's biggest-ever corruption probe, which centers on bribes and political kickbacks at Petrobras, has led to the conviction of dozens of powerful executives and politicians while recovering 2.9 billion reais ($795 million) in stolen money.
Prosecutors accuse Lula of concealing ownership of an oceanfront apartment that was built and furnished by one of the Petrobras contractors in the graft scheme.
The widening bribery scandal has divided Rousseff's fractious coalition and moved the PMDB closer to breaking with her government.
Vice President Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, did not attend the swearing-in of Lula because Rousseff appointed a lawmaker from his party as civil aviation minister, Temer's aides said. A PMDB convention on Saturday banned its members from taking new posts in her government.
Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition demonstrators who clashed with Lula's leftist supporters outside the presidential palace where he was sworn in, while ministers and corruption investigators traded barbs throughout the day.
Demonstrations also blocked major avenues in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, spurred by anger that Lula's appointment will shield the former president from prosecutors who charged him with money laundering and fraud as part of a sweeping graft probe centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.
Only Brazil's Supreme Court has jurisdiction in cases against ministers. Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, a federal judge in Brasilia issued an injunction against Lula's appointment on the grounds it blocked "the free exercise of justice."
Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo vowed to appeal the injunction against Lula joining the government, which he called the decision of a partisan judge.
The standoff inflamed tensions that are already running high between Brazil's executive and judiciary branches, as the snowballing Petrobras probe reaches Rousseff's inner circle and hangs over a congressional impeachment committee named on Thursday.
Calls for Rousseff's impeachment have centered on allegations, unrelated to Petrobras, that she broke budget rules intentionally to boost spending as she campaigned for re-election in 2014. A 65-member impeachment committee of the lower house will now formally begin studying whether there are sufficient grounds to remove her.
Deliberations could drag on for months. But hotly contested seats on the committee, amid vocal calls from some opposition lawmakers for Rousseff to resign, were spread among all parties in the lower house of Congress.
"The panel includes moderates, allies and opponents of the government," said Leonardo Picciani, leader in the lower house of the centrist PMDB party, Rousseff's main governing partner.
Rousseff and Lula have both denied any wrongdoing.
READ ALSO: Rousseff-Lula tape release triggers protests in Brazil
Brazil's benchmark stock index rallied 6.6%, the biggest daily jump in seven years, and the Brazilian real firmed 2.3% as the political crisis increased bets that Rousseff's ouster could bring a more market-friendly administration to power.
The real's 10% gain so far this month led the central bank to scale back its currency intervention.
Rousseff appointed her mentor, who remains one of Brazil's most influential politicians six years after leaving office, in an effort to fight impeachment and win back working-class supporters amid the worst economic recession in decades.
The corruption probe, however, has weakened Lula's sway in Congress and there are growing signs that Rousseff's main coalition partner is ready to abandon the unpopular government.
Brazil's powerful industry lobby, the CNI, said the political crisis was having "catastrophic" consequences for businesses and called on the country's politicians to overcome their differences to restore confidence.
"UNDERGROUND WAR"
As Rousseff swore Lula into office, she strongly criticized the release on Wednesday of a taped telephone conversation between them that was made public by Sergio Moro, the crusading federal judge overseeing the Petrobras investigation.
Moro, the public face of the biggest graft probe in Brazilian history, said the tape showed they had discussed influencing prosecutors and courts to protect Lula, who leaves Moro's jurisdiction.
"Convulsing Brazilian society with lies, with reprehensible practices violates constitutional rights and as well as the rights of citizens," said Rousseff, who called the recording illegal and anti-democratic.
Judiciary association and prosecutors working with Moro sprang to his defense, repudiating what they called efforts to intimidate him and his team of investigators.
"Those telephone conversations provide evidence of obstructing the investigation, part of a treacherous underground war waged in the shadows, far from the courts," wrote thirteen federal prosecutors on Moro's task force in a public statement.
Moro said in a court filing released on Wednesday that the taped telephone conversations did not provide proof that Lula and Rousseff were interfering with his investigation.
He said, however, that he released the recordings because citizens had a right to know how they were being governed.
One recording, made public by the court, included Rousseff offering to send Lula a copy of his appointment urgently "in case it was necessary" - a possible reference to the ministerial post providing him with immediate immunity from arrest.
Brazil's biggest-ever corruption probe, which centers on bribes and political kickbacks at Petrobras, has led to the conviction of dozens of powerful executives and politicians while recovering 2.9 billion reais ($795 million) in stolen money.
Prosecutors accuse Lula of concealing ownership of an oceanfront apartment that was built and furnished by one of the Petrobras contractors in the graft scheme.
The widening bribery scandal has divided Rousseff's fractious coalition and moved the PMDB closer to breaking with her government.
Vice President Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, did not attend the swearing-in of Lula because Rousseff appointed a lawmaker from his party as civil aviation minister, Temer's aides said. A PMDB convention on Saturday banned its members from taking new posts in her government.
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