Fans of Iron Maiden will know that Bruce Dickinson, among his multiple talents, is also a very capable pilot. As it turns out, he’s involved in the unveiling of the world’s longest aircraft: the Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV), or the Airlander. Apparently, according to BBC News, Dickinson was one of the more famous investors for the project. We won’t bog you down with too much technical talk, but the main things to know about why it’s a big deal is because it doesn’t need a runway to take off or land, can carry 50 metric tons, and only requires two crew members to get it going.

A few of Dickinson’s comments on the airship:

“It’s a game changer, in terms of things we can have in the air and things we can do.”

“The airship has always been with us, it’s just been waiting for the technology to catch up.”

So how long until Maiden get one of their own with a giant picture of Eddie plastered on the side? Airlander 666 has a nice ring to it, no? There’s a video promo below with more details about the airship.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/86716764[/vimeo]