Zeppelins fly again!

[Nemesis]

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28205&Cr=UNESCO&Cr1=heritage

 

[Flyfisher]

It's a shame that Zeppelins have never recovered from their Hindenburgh moment, even though they no longer use hydrogen.

I had a flight over London back in the mid-80s in an Airship Industries airship. Great fun and quite similar to a gently rolling boat in many ways.

I have doubts about them ever catching on for mainstream commercial transportation though; too slow compared to conventional aircraft and not enough capacity compared with ships.

But this global race should certainly be an impressive sight.

 

[Penners]

I'm more of a Led Zeppelin man.

 

[shelli]

I have doubts about them ever catching on for mainstream commercial transportation though; too slow compared to conventional aircraft and not enough capacity compared with ships.

perhaps exclusive airship hols will appeal to the wealthy and seasick end of the cruise market - getting public liability insurance to run holidays might be the biggest problem

 

[Cloudscape]

They have their own website http://www.worldskyrace.com/executive_summary.htm You can see the proposed route.

The prizes are expected to be $10,000,000.

 

[Flyfisher]

Not sure about being an alternative for the seasick-prone; airships are quite susceptible to rolling around in the wind and updrafts. Also, they typically have a low operating ceiling so can't fly above bad weather like current aircraft. I think they're one of those things that people would like to see catch on, but they just don't compare favourably enough with existing alternatives - yet. But fine for specialist/niche markets.

Liability insurance shouldn't be a problem though - they don't (can't) catch fire anymore.

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2007/hindenburg-disaster-p1.php

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Hindenburg_disaster_/


http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1937-05-07-16-001&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1937-05-07-16

 

[Flyfisher]

Astonishing that 2/3rds of the people on board survived.
Still, can't happen with today's helium-filled airships.

 

[Penners]

The prizes are expected to be $10,000,000.

Ten million bucks for being a gasbag?

I'm up for that.

 

[shelli]

wah wah wah waaaah ! - thems the jokes folks - he's here for the whole week

 

[Penners]

Oh, m-u-c-h longer than that! Make for the exits, while you can.