Page 7 of World SkyCat Brochure by World SkyCat Ltd

safety skycats are inherently safe and tolerant to hazard key points to note are lift gas the lift gas helium is not merely inert but acts as a fire extinguisher structural safety the natural buoyancy and special design features of the skycat offer a virtually zero catastrophic failure mode with the internal hull pressure maintained at only 1 2 above surrounding air pressure the vehicle is highly tolerant to physical damage or to attack by small arms fire or missiles storm and turbulence while on long-haul flights weather patterns would be flown to avoid bad weather the sheer mass of the hull largely dampens out the effect of turbulence ­ just as a large tanker rides through rough seas lightning strike constructed mainly from composite materials the skycat offers a poor lightning target and should it be struck built-in protection devices ensure that the risk to the vehicle and its cargo is minimal structural vulnerability tests a series of tests were carried out by the uk defence evaluation and research agency dera on a skyship 600 an earlier airship built by the munk team to a similar pressurestabilised design the picture below shows the airship two hours after several hundred high-velocity bullets were fired through the hull even after this intensive assault the vehicle would have been able to return to base © crown copyright 2001 an earlier munk airship two hours and several hundred rounds of high velocity fire later and still able to fly 7

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