The world's largest airplane has once again crashed headfirst into the ground.

The world's longest aircraft, worth $32 million, crashed headfirst into a field in England after coming loose from its mooring.

The Airlander crashed headfirst into the ground. Photo: South Beds News Agency.

An Airlander 10, a hybrid aircraft/airship, crashed into a field in Bedfordshire, England, after the ropes securing the aircraft to the ground came loose, the Mirror reported yesterday. Engineers scrambled to re-secure the aircraft, which had undergone a series of major improvements following last summer's accident.

The Airlander crashed during a test flight late last year.

"We were walking across the field when suddenly we saw the rear of the plane lift off the ground. The plane had been outdoors for two weeks and was tethered to the ground, but the mooring ropes had come loose and the plane crashed. It looked like a strong gust of wind had loosened the ropes," recounted witness Paul Britton, 44, of Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England.

Airlander takes its first flight.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), the company that built the giant aircraft, said the incident was entirely normal. The plane had been refurbished following a field crash in Bedfordshire during its second test run last August. No one was injured in the crash, but the cockpit was destroyed, requiring the 84-meter-long aircraft to undergo extensive repairs in storage at Cardington.

The newly designed aircraft includes two massive, inflatable airbags that are neatly folded away during flight, protecting the cockpit upon landing. According to HAV, their official name is a landing assistance system.

This is one of several changes implemented following the accident, which occurred when the Airlander flew too high and its tethering system became entangled in power lines, according to a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

The airbags allow the aircraft to land safely at greater angles, measuring over 3 meters in length and containing 15 cubic meters of gas. Engineers spent three years creating the Airlander 10. The aircraft can hold nearly 37,000 cubic meters of helium, enough to fill 15 Olympic swimming pools. The Airlander 10 is 98 meters long, 15 meters longer than the largest passenger aircraft currently in existence.

HAV has added a new, more robust and flexible automatic mooring system and mobile mooring posts. The company hopes the Airlander can resume flights by the end of this month. They also plan to create a larger aircraft, capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo and entering service in the early 2020s, using non-flammable helium as fuel.

According to VNE