The Skyship 500 is a non-rigid airship designed and built in the United Kingdom during the 1980s.The Skyship 500 was developed from the Aerospace Developments AD500, the sole example of which was effectively the prototype / technology demonstrator for the production Skyship 500.With the formation of Airship Industries production of the Skyship 500 could commence and five further airships were produced.The Skyship 500 consists of a polyester fabric envelope, retaining helium gas, and carrying a gondola for the control cabin, passenger cabin, propulsion systems and ballast (fixed and jettison-able). The envelope is of a traditional streamlined shape with cruciform tail surfaces which carry rudder and elevator control surfaces for yaw and pitch. The undercarriage consists of a castoring twin-wheeled oleo-pneumatic strut at the rear of the gondola, with ground handling ropes for ground crew to manoeuvre the airship on the ground. The nose-cone of the envelope also carries the mooring point which can connect to a mobile mooring mast.The polyester fabric envelope is coated on the outside with Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) loaded Polyurethane to reduce Ultra-Violet degradation and lined with a Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) film bonded to the fabric to minimise Helium (He) losses.Most other structural components are produced from fibre-reinforced composite materials, to reduce weight, including Fibre-lam board used to build up the fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) tail surfaces and control surfaces.The moulded FRP gondola houses the control cabin, passenger cabin, power-plant systems and ballast (both fixed and jettison-able). Large windows to the front and sides provide excellent visibility for crew and passengers seated on five individual seats and a three abreast bench seat at the rear. Support for the gondola comes from Kevlar cables inside the envelope.Power for the Skyship 500 comes from two converted Porsche 930/10 engines inside the rear of the gondola driving the vectoring Hoffmann ducted reversible-pitch propellers through lateral drive-shafts and converted Westland Lynx tail-rotor gearboxes. The pilot and co-pilot seated at the front of the cabin have a full set of instruments and avionics and control the airship through yokes which operate the control surfaces though cables.One of the five production airships was modified into a heavy payload version, designated Skyship 500 (HL), using a larger Skyship 600 envelope but carrying a Skyship 500 gondola.
SpecificationsCrew: 2Capacity: 8 passengersLength: 52 m (170 ft 7 in)Diameter: 14 m (45 ft 11 in)Height: 18.66 m (61 ft 3 in)Volume: 5,153 m3 (182,000 cu ft) grossBallonet volume: 1,334 m3 (47,109.8 cu ft) (Nominal 26% of gross volume)Max gross gas lift: 4,500 kg (9,900 lb)Max disposable load: 1,260 kg (2,780 lb)Emergency ballast: 513 kg (1,131 lb) of water in tanks in the gondolaFuel capacity: 545 l (144.0 US gal; 119.9 imp gal)Gondola length: 9.24 m (30.3 ft)Gondola width: 2.41 m (7.9 ft)Cabin length: 4.2 m (14 ft)Cabin height: 1.96 m (6.4 ft)Powerplant: 2 × Porsche 930/01/AI/3[7] cylinder horizontally-opposed, normally aspirated piston engines, 152 kW (204 hp) eachPropellers: 5-bladed Hoffmann HO-V 155 A-R reversible pitch propeller in a vectorable duct (90° up, 120° down), 1.372 m (4 ft 6 in) diameter
PerformanceMaximum speed: 93 km/h; 58 mph (50 kn) @5000rpmCruise speed: 56 km/h; 35 mph (30 kn) @3000rpmRange: 870 km; 541 mi (470 nmi) at 74 km/h (46 mph; 40 kn)Endurance: 12 hoursService ceiling: 2,980 m (9,770 ft) (max theoretical pressure height in ISA)
AvionicsKing Silver Crown dual nav/com, ADF, Omega, VOR/ILS and weather radar
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(photo of original for comparison)
