China's manned airship enables 'in the clouds' sightseeing

Seeing the airship taking off, the granny took a break from her farm work and made her way to the pad for a closer look. Liu said that, despite being very excited to get to the pad, she had decided to change into a pair of new shoes. "The airship is so pretty, and I really don't want to make it dirty!"

Ever since the large airship appeared close to her village, Liu has often found herself taking a closer look, while expressing her happiness to have such an opportunity.

"Airships have always been in the dreams of the Chinese. Researchers and aviators have been dedicated to the study of airships. Now, we have the AS700, which is a modern airship with completely independent intellectual property rights," said Zhou Lei, chief designer of the AS700 at the AVIC Special Vehicle Research Institute.

The AS700 is a singe-envelope manned airship boasting a maximum flight range of 700 kilometers and endurance of 10 hours. Its designed maximum speed is 100 kilometers per hour and it can carry up to 10 people, including the pilot.

"Safety is the top priority of this manned airship," Zhou said, adding that the vehicle has adopted a systematic design to ensure its safety, with features including an envelope made of high strength multi-layer composite materials and multiple emergency measures.

"Notably, we have designed a thrust-vectored system which makes the airship realize short and vertical takeoff and landing. This technology is promising in terms of its use in flying cars and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in the future," Zhou said.