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Return of the Airship?


Utah Bob #35998

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I wonder what's the average speed?  Suspect it's much slower than a jet airliner.

 

What passengers would want to travel in that craft?

 

Will there be cost savings to the travelers using that craft?

 

100 seats.  Hope there's more room.

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5 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Cruise Ship Passengers and similar amenities.  Could be a big thing. Not my cuppa.

Amenities?  Maybe one could get their Mile High Club membership.

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I’d go in a heartbeat.  ‘Course I’d do the China Clipper too! :wub:

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1 hour ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

Amenities?  Maybe one could get their Mile High Club membership.

Twenty, no, thirty years ago maybe. Hell, ground level is rare.

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2 hours ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

In a previous life I worked for Goodyear Aerospace. We used to build blimps, never got to ride in one.

That’s just wrong! 

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I have always wanted to go up in a blimp. I had a chance to go up in the Goodyear blimp, but let’s just say my friend who had the passes was an a$$head and took some skirt up instead that he met in a skank bar the night before. 
 

If they come to the US I will take a flight. I think it would be great. 

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I would dress for dinner and go in style.:wub:

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1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Blimps are different.

 

in the heyday of the dirigible, it was quite the luxurious way to cross the Atlantic. There were many crossings Europe to Brazil, slow of course.  Then the incident at Lakehurst ended the whole thing.

 

The crash of Hindenburg at Lakehurst was indeed the death of travel by dirigible. That crash was preceded by the crash of the dirigibles Macon and Akron in which one of them (I forget which one) was the worst loss of life in a dirigible crash, including Hindenburg. All of that was preceded by the crash of the dirigible Shenandoah. The combined crashes of all of them within 10 to 12 years of each other made the public leery of dirigible travel. I don't blame them for being leery.

 

I'm going from memory on all of this. I had to do a detailed report 45+ years ago on the subject for a history class I was taking. I don't remember the grade that I received but I remember the topic very well.

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Of course, hydrogen lift died with the disasters. But who knows? We won't see it, but safe airship travel may well come about. An interesting prospect. 

 

If it becomes safe, and well established, it might be a classy way to go.....tuxedos and martinis; slow maybe, but not as slow as a an ocean liner. Better than cramped in a tube, however fast, perhaps.

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13 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Blimps are different.

 

in the heyday of the dirigible, it was quite the luxurious way to cross the Atlantic. There were many crossings Europe to Brazil, slow of course.  Then the incident at Lakehurst ended the whole thing.

Dirigibles have a solid frame that can collapse in a storm, blimps are like a balloon and will just get tossed around, maybe loose the gondola.

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Build the bladder as a lifting body, add jets to it and it doesn't have to be slow.

 

Instead of a gondola carry a hand full of conex containers and make it a freight transporter. Solar panels on top could turn electric rotors. Might not be fast but could move stiff cheap

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I see that we have a few of the "they're saying it's "green" so I have to be against it" types here.   I'd do it.  Sometimes how you get there is the worthier part. :D Nothing wrong with bringing back a revision of old technology, even if it is touted as "green" or "carbon friendly."   All I care about is getting the job done at a reasonable price.  People still take trains for pleasure trips, or ocean cruises.  Why not the elegance of air ships?

 

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28 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

I see that we have a few of the "they're saying it's "green" so I have to be against it" types here.   I'd do it.  Sometimes how you get there is the worthier part. :D Nothing wrong with bringing back a revision of old technology, even if it is touted as "green" or "carbon friendly."   All I care about is getting the job done at a reasonable price.  People still take trains for pleasure trips, or ocean cruises.  Why not the elegance of air ships?

 

 

I just read this entire thread twice and can't seem to make the connection you have.

 

I've read that it's slow and potentially dangerous - but not a single comment about it being "green".

 

What am I missing?

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3 minutes ago, Chief Rick said:

 

I just read this entire thread twice and can't seem to make the connection you have.

 

I've read that it's slow and potentially dangerous - but not a single comment about it being "green".

 

What am I missing?

In the accompanying article, the company refers to their "carbon footprint". 

I certainly don't have a problem with these things, but I can't see their being a particularly efficient mode of transport. If, as another poster said, they were to use it to transport cargo, mmm okay. As an airborne cruise ship, why not? But the way the article makes it sound, these are going to be The Next Big Thing in passenger transportation. THAT I don't see.   

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23 minutes ago, Chief Rick said:

 

I just read this entire thread twice and can't seem to make the connection you have.

 

I've read that it's slow and potentially dangerous - but not a single comment about it being "green".

 

What am I missing?

 

I'm probably reading more into some of the comments than I should.  Surprisingly, I've caught flak from people here in Sonoma County because I drive an EV.  The usual "It takes a gazillion tons of coal to power those!  Think of the Congolese three year olds who had to mine the cobalt!" stuff (yes, hyperbole), so I may be a little over sensitive to some things and see comments as being dismissive when they aren't.

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6 hours ago, Texas Joker said:

Build the bladder as a lifting body, add jets to it and it doesn't have to be slow.

 

Instead of a gondola carry a hand full of conex containers and make it a freight transporter. Solar panels on top could turn electric rotors. Might not be fast but could move stiff cheap

 

That company has already been claiming to be working on that for several years now. To date they have not delivered 1 lb of cargo.

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A little background on these airships

 

HAV304 Airlander (now Airlander 10)

 

<quote>

Development of the Airlander 10 originally began in June 2010 in collaboration with Northrop Grumman for the US Army.

The first flight test of the aircraft was successfully completed in August 2012 at Lakehurst, New Jersey, US.

The development was subsequently abandoned by the US Army due to budget issues after spending around $300m, with the aircraft then sold to HAV at a nominal price. The company relaunched the Airlander in February 2014 and received a £2.5m ($4.16m) grant from the UK Government.

The HAV Airlander 10 prototype made its first flight on 17 August 2016. The aircraft sustained damage to its flight deck after a heavy landing during the second test flight on 24 August 2016.

<end quote>

 

The USAF and US Navy were jointly developing this with the Army. 

 

Airlander has been making grandious press releases touting these airships for years. I've yet to see any of them come to fruition.

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On 6/15/2022 at 6:53 PM, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I’d go in a heartbeat.  ‘Course I’d do the China Clipper too! :wub:

I'd go in a Clipper in a heartbeat and would love one more ride in a Super G Connie.

 

Had an acquaintance in California who would fly me from Ontario to John Wayne and back about once a month in his Beech D-17 Staggerwing.  Such a lovely private plane with seats for five.  He charged me lunch ay Charlie Browns.

 

I could drive it each way in about a hour, maybe a bit more, but this was a lot more fun.

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6 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I'd go in a Clipper in a heartbeat and would love one more ride in a Super G Connie.

 

Had an acquaintance in California who would fly me from Ontario to John Wayne and back about once a month in his Beech D-17 Staggerwing.  Such a lovely private plane with seats for five.  He charged me lunch ay Charlie Browns.

 

I could drive it each way in about a hour, maybe a bit more, but this was a lot more fun.

An awesome airplane! :wub:

https://disciplesofflight.com/beechcraft-model-17-staggerwing-aircraft-profile/

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5 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I like that plane a lot, Thanks

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2 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I like that plane a lot, Thanks

From The Golden Age of Aviation. B)

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My take on flying is that those that fly within the boundaries of the continent, do so to get there as quickly as possible. Depending how fast it will go from point A to point B, some may just drive there if this is a replacement. So more road traffic, long lines to charge up or fill up.

Going overseas in one, I would be cautious because of storms, headwinds and shearing, also the increase in time to get to Europe, Eurasia, etc. Be a long time, the fastest time by an airship to Europe was 43 hours compared to 12/13 hours now.

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My first supervisor at Goodyear started there at 16 years old early in the war working on airships. At 18 he joined the Navy. He got convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic, said he was frozen and scared. Navy found out he was familiar with airships, Chief  told him to pack his bags he was going stateside.  Seems the best way to spot subs is from the air, he spent the rest of the war cruising up and down the cost of Florida looking for German subs.

 

Every thing I've written below is info gathered from The engineers and others who worked with the blimps in Akron. It's been a long time I could be wrong on any point but to the best of my knowledge is correct.  

 

That big bag you see is not full of helium, it is full of air and smaller bags which can be filled with helium to get it to "lighter than air" depending on the load carried. These bags have valves that control the flow of helium from the storage tanks. These valves can freeze at altitude and this is the problem for most new blimp makers. Goodyear, ( I think Lockheed Martin now owns the rights) has many years of experience with them. Lockheed has been messing with blimps also, so I doubt they will give competitors any help.

 

I once found a book on how to set up fixtureing  for WWI air planes, exact same way we did airship fixtures.

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I stumbled onto a TV show called "Might Trains" not too long ago and I have learned that there are several trains around the world where the train ride is the experience. 

 

Some of these trains will have a separate origination and destination point but some start and end at the same place.  The point is to ride the train in luxury and stop at various locations for tours (and maybe overnight hotels in some cases).

 

I could see using airships to do this.

 

Could you imagine flying low and slow across the south-western US (or any other part; Yellowstone, Rocky/Smoky mountains, Niagara) and seeing the landscape during the day in air conditioned comfort with minimal noise?  Then stopping before dark and taking a tour/excursion before eating in a nice restaurant and bedding down in a nice hotel?

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