Airships Fly Again

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Jolly good show!

GrapeApe never understood the appeal of giant balloons

Efficiency.

May I change my vote? I think I accidently for the wrong thing. I like big round things. Like blimps, and women.

Here's a cool slideshow showing some of the history and the recent comeback of this amazing flying vehicle.

Included in that slideshow are images of the totally meeping radical Aircruise and the giant meeping meep inspiring Manned Cloud. In my opinion, this is one of the most exciting areas of aviation and it has been neglected by designers and engineers for far too long.

Also see: Strato Cruiser and this.

Screw that, the only reason to fly in the first place is to get to point B quickly. Floating for 20 hours to get somewhere that normally takes 5? Might as well take a covered wagon, I bet a couple of oxen are even more fuel efficient than balloons. That being said I can understand the fascination, I have a friend that loves trains, takes his vacations riding freight trains...I just meeping hate flying as it is.

Thems is some spiffy b'loons. It would be fun to take a cross Atlantic,or meep! even a cross country trip in one of those. I can think of worse conditions than 2 days of posh living, on the way from Vancouver to Halifax.

The Eureka is passing overhead today, but we have an overcast sky, and I can only hear it...

eppelin/Zeppelin.html

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1b/Zeppelin/Zeppelin.html

That^

I disagree, Ape. You know the old phrase 'Life's a journey, not a destination,' right?

...I also wonder if we could get around the TSA by taking airships, since we obviously wouldn't be able to crash 'em into anything. Wow, they could make a lot of money if that flew.

^ this

With something like the Manned Cloud or Aircruise, the flight becomes an exciting part of the vacation rather than just another pain in the meep flight. Seriously, standing on a glass floor 12,000 feet above ground? That just might be better than the destination.

This thing is meeping useless. It can lift 1 ton. That's like 4 American men.

''It's slow enough to be used for sightseeing, large enough to carry heavy cargo and enough volume of lifting capability to be flied 20,000ft unmanned. So you have a gift of all different technologies.' - sure, as long as your heavy cargo is a car.

Helium shortage hampers research and industry

^ Standing 98ft taller than Canary Wharf, packing 330,000 cubic metres of hydrogen gas and capable of lifting 396 tonnes, the Aircruise concept features penthouse apartments, bars and even dizzying glass viewing floors.

You lose, corporal.

That would be some other ship. The one actually linked says 'Lift is provided by a system of seven bags filled with helium, while the inner hull is full of ambient air. Hydrogen was used in the 1920s and 1930s because helium was considered too expensive at the time.'

Hydrogen does seem like a much better choice, and 396 tons would be quite respectable, if the Aircruise thing actually existed. Maybe it will some day! But today is not that day. I lose, but only conceptually.

Well, it's the internet. Everything here is conceptual.

The jet lag involved in flying from California to anywhere in Europe is a MASSIVE meep, esp. If you're supposed to start working as soon as you get there. If I could take a 2 day float and arrive something akin to my normal, useful self I would gladly do it!