The BBC article isn't great and leaves you wondering why it was approved at all. The Guardian article is better but still isn't great imo. It's as if they're intentionally sowing seeds of unease about these types of ships even though this was just a test aircraft.
> An eyewitness said the aircraft appeared to "break in two" after breaking its moorings and deflating...
Why would they approve it after such a mishap one might wonder? Well the deflation was intentional and triggered by an automatic safety system as The Guardian article explains.
> Another mishap befell the 92-metre-long (302ft), 44-metre-wide craft in 2017 when a woman was taken to hospital after its hull automatically deflated when the vessel came loose from its moorings.
But it still frames it as a series of mishaps and injuries. Which I guess is great for page views but damages the reputation.
For comparison: the longest curently operating airplane is the Antonov An-225 Mriya with 84 m (275 ft) length [1]. The longest passenger airplane is the Airbus 380-800 at 72,30 m (237 ft).
