Prototype airship nears first test flight
An experimental airship came a step closer to its first flight last weekend when the silvery “Aeroscraft” zeppelin hovered a few feet off the ground outside the Tustin, Calif. blimp hangar where it’s being built.
The Aeroscraft, a 266-foot-long blimp-like cargo ship, is expected to hold its first test flight within the next month, officials with developer Aeros Corp. said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness certificate to the firm.
Last week, Aeros announced the ship’s flight crew would include former Air Force Gen. Raymond Johns, veteran test pilot and blimp operator Alfred “Corky” Belanger and company founder Igor Pasternak, the Ukrainian native who conceived the futuristic aircraft’s unique buoyancy system.
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