Hinderburg, strike II.
- Thread starter CougTek
- Start date
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Hindenburg might be slightly hyperbolic, since that thing floats on Helium rather than Hydrogen...
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Hydrogen isn't believed to be the main cause of the Hinderburg's crash. Flawed german mecanics was. There was an American embargo on helium at the time and Germans pointed hydrogen as the cause of the accident because they wanted to make the Americans feel guilty about it. It was easier for them than to admit the errors they had made when they designed their behemoth zeppelin.
An american war zeppelin (USS Arkon) that used helium instead of hydrogen crashed four years before, killing twice as many as the Hinderburg. This time it was because of bad weather (or so the report says).
Both the Hinderburg and the USS Arkon were longer, but thinner than the newer design of flying balloon I linked above. I don't think a zeppelin is safe to pilot in bad weather because of its shape. Once wind catches it, few can be done.
An american war zeppelin (USS Arkon) that used helium instead of hydrogen crashed four years before, killing twice as many as the Hinderburg. This time it was because of bad weather (or so the report says).
Both the Hinderburg and the USS Arkon were longer, but thinner than the newer design of flying balloon I linked above. I don't think a zeppelin is safe to pilot in bad weather because of its shape. Once wind catches it, few can be done.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Given a choice between getting on an aeroplane and getting on that thing, I'd choose the blimp in a heartbeat. At least if the engines fail it still has some inherent bouyancy. That being said, if there is that big of a market for 18-hour cross country trips instead of 6 to 7 hours via regular jets then maybe high-speed rail might be a better alternative. Same travel time, no helium, far less chance for things to go wrong.
ddrueding
Fixture
Something that slow isn't going to win over passenger transportation, but cargo is certainly a possibility. And I would very much be interested in a sight-seeing trip on one; a "cruise" around the world, showing all kinds of wonders in a week would be a nice trip.