The Allplane Podcast #78 - the comeback of the airship era, with Tom Grundy, CEO of HAV
Today’s podcast guest is leading a firm that is truly unique in the aviation world.
Tom Grundy, CEO of Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) and our guest today, will possibly chastise me for talking about an “airship” comeback.
The Airlander, the world’s largest aircraft by some measures, may look, from the outside, like one of those classical airships of the pre-War era, however, as listeners of this episode shall soon learn, it presents some notable differences as well, the result of almost a century of progress in aerospace and materials sciences.
The airship, as we all know, fell out of favour decades ago, what’s different this time, then? In our chat, Tom explains some of the amazing capabilities of present day hybrid air vehicles like the Airlander: very low fuel consumption, almost no infrastructure needs, long range and super long endurance. Even the low speeds it is capable of can also be an advantage at times, like when it is used for luxury air tours or loitering reconnaissance missions.
The Airlander 10, the first model that HAV has developed has already announced its launch customer, Spanish airline Air Nostrum, but Tom’s team area already working on a much larger version that will meet the needs of freight operators operating in areas of the world with limited land transportation options.
I am sure many of you, just like me, can’t wait to see these giant Airlanders flying around…in the meantime, tune in for a fascinating conversation with Hybrid Air Vehicles CEO Tom Grundy!
Download this episode from:
Apple Podcasts / iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher
Things we talk about in this episode:
Tom’s professional background
The story of Hybrid Air Vehicles
What is the Airlander & how does it work
How does the Airlander differ from classical airships
Operational and sustainability advantages of the Airlander
What is the status of the Airlander project
Future versions of HAV’s Airlander already being planned
Resources:
Air Nostrum’s Airlander announcement
My piece for The Points Guy about the airship comeback
OceanSky, the Swedish firm planning airship luxury tours
My piece for CNN about the OceanSky Polar project
A rendering of the Airlander 10:
Podcast Music: Five Armies by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3762-five-armies
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Interview Transcript:
(please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)