Bummer: Airlander 10 aircraft nosedives in second test flight

The “flying bum” fell on its face Wednesday.

On just its second test flight, the world’s largest aircraft, Airlander 10, nosedived while landing on a British airfield.

The cockpit sustained damage when the 302-foot long airship/plane, dubbed “The Flying Bum,” crashed at its home, Cardington Airfield base in Bedfordshire, England. No one was injured in the incident.

“The Airlander experienced a heavy landing and the front of the flight deck has sustained some damage which is currently being assessed,” manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), said in a statement posted on its website.

The BBC reported the $35 million vehicle had just completed a planned 100-minute flight when it nosedived upon landing.

“The flight went really well and the only issue was when it landed,” a company spokesman told the BBC.

HAV denied witness claims that a line dangling from the aircraft hit a phone pole before it landed.

Slate dubbed the incident “quite possibly the world’s slowest crash landing.”

Tests on the prototype’s engines and systems were finished earlier this month when the giant airship was towed to a “primary mast site.”

Originally created to stay in the air for up to three weeks while carrying tons of equipment, the Airlander was first designed for surveillance and reconnaissance for the U.S. Army. Budget cuts and project delays killed the project and HAV, its original designer, bought back the prototype in 2013.

Officially, the airship’s name is Martha Gwyn, named after the wife of HAV chairman Philip Gwyn.

Unofficially, as the butt of many a joke, it’s been called Kim Kardashian.

The company envisions building a fleet of the helium-filled Airlanders by 2018, but it has no takers yet.

“Hybrid Air Vehicles runs a robust set of procedures for flight test activities and investigation of issues,” the company said in its statement Wednesday.

“We will be running through these in the days ahead as we continue the development of the Airlander aircraft.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Bummer: Airlander 10 aircraft nosedives in second test flight."