Posted on 05/04/2011 4:32:24 PM PDT by AfricanChristian
Ever since the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, airships have been a largely abandoned technology, their continued existence consigned to being a quick shorthand for alternate universes in science fiction. But now, 75 years later, airships might be ready to return.
To be fair to airships, the Hindenburg blew up because its fuel was flammable hydrogen - something its German operators had to use because the US banned the export of helium to the Nazis - and so it's perhaps not the best representative of the technology's abilities. Then again, the Hindenburg was far from the only airship disaster, and the subsequent rise of faster and more reliable airplanes removed any clear need for airships. Now some entrepreneurs are banking on the fact that the time is right for an airship revival.
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...
Perhaps a novelty more than anything else. In this age, I don’t see people hopping on a zeppelin to London for business purposes.
“consigned to being a quick shorthand for alternate universes in science fiction”
Fringe fan?
I suspect they meant kilometers, instead of miles.
That said, the article is correct about the potential for airships in remote regions.
I can also see a substantial leisure travel market. There is a growing traveling population willing to trade in time for lower transportation costs.
Just don’t fill them with hydrogen, paint them with solid rocket fuel, and fail to ground them properly.
Thanks for posting.
I would guess that heavy lifting/cargo applications would be their market.
Well thank God Clinton decided to sell off our helium reserves in 1996. /sarc
That was the novelty part.
I can also see a substantial leisure travel market. There is a growing traveling population willing to trade in time for lower transportation costs.
It is interesting; something to mull over. Transportation costs are undoubtedly high, with no end in sight.
that would be sweet....
Even helium airships can have horrible problems with bad weather:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shenandoah_%28ZR-1%29
No need for hydrogen to make it dangerous....
The article speaks of using it to reach remote regions, such as Canada. I’m wondering about icing problems, if they are prone to this problem, how would it affect lift, etc?
Seriously though, this story is older than the internet
12 Nov 2010 ... Airships are making a comeback!
9 Jun 2008 Floating the idea of an airship comeback - News - Travel - smh.com.au
28 Aug 1996 ... Airships' comeback is more than hot air.
And pre Google, I remember stories like this going back to the 1960s.
Good read.
I'm sure that the fact that it is the 75th anniversary of the Lakehurst BBQ is only coincidence.
In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in the natural gas fields in parts of the United States, which is by far the largest supplier of the gas.
People said that ocean liners were dead when the Boeing 707 went into service. Now we have the cruise ships. They are for fun, not for business travel.
The Hindenburg was an aberration, destroyed in inferno.
All the other huge dirigibles died in windstorms: Shenandoah, R-100, R-101, Macon, Los Angeles. The Graf Zeppelin and Graf Zeppelin II survived to be broken up for their scrap value.
Doesn’t the seventy year success of the U.S. nonrigid blimp fleet say anything?
Anyway, a balloon is a balloon, regardless of its shape, and is always at the mercy of the winds. Commercial applications, oh please. The Nazis got more use out of the Hindenburg during their 1936 `plebiscite’ when forty-two on board `Ja’ votes for Hitler were counted when there were only forty names on the manifest. Oh well.
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