A Youtuber has built a 27-foot-long experimental blimp that uses hot air instead of helium for lift, then added an electric motor and rudder to turn the balloon-like craft into a remotely controlled airship.

Called Pandora, the unusual aircraft was built by Avery Flies over months of work and eventually took to the air in September 2026. The project combines the basic principle of a hot-air balloon with the shape and propulsion of an airship, making it more accurately described as a thermal airship.

The 27-foot (8.2-meter) craft is about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide and contains roughly 2,100 cubic feet of air. Rather than using helium, a propane burner heats the air inside the envelope, making it less dense than the surrounding atmosphere and providing the lift needed to get Pandora off the ground. An electric motor provides forward thrust, while a fabric rudder allows the remotely controlled craft to change direction.

Much of the challenge was simply constructing something this large. Avery based Pandora’s general shape on a Geta Flug thermal airship but simplified the design to make it buildable. The original concept used four fins, while Pandora has three arranged approximately 120 degrees apart.

The envelope was made from around 108 yards of 1.1-ounce silicone-coated nylon. Avery divided the structure into 36 individual fabric sections, known as gores, before sewing them together.

The fins were particularly labor-intensive. Each took roughly 20 hours to construct and contained internal baffles to prevent the inflated fabric from simply expanding into a rounded shape.

Source link