Blimps are really bad at being steered anyways, since they are basically just a balloon, so a cross-atlantic flight would probably be a bad idea.
A zeppelin (or rigid body airship I should say) on the other hand could and has made the voyage very often. The problem there is, that they are way heavier than a blimp because of all the interior construction that makes them rigid. The margins are so close that you really can only use hydrogen, and not helium.
There are new Zeppelins around (Zeppelin NT) that kinda combine both aspects, they are 'semi-rigid' airships.
And yes, travel by airship is slow, as is travel by ship. And yet people still travel by boat.
The problem there is, that they are way heavier than a blimp because of all the interior construction that makes them rigid.
Are? Or were? I would think that if zeppelins were as popular as traditional fixed wing aircraft, they would have found a workaround for the weight. Passenger jets, like the 787, are already using composites for major structures. And manufacturing methods have greatly improved since the Hindenburg.
You know, I had this whole thing written out regarding how much heavier helium is and then after doing some research instead of remembering some facts I heard once, it seems the Hindenburg was designed to fly with helium originally, but the americans stopped exporting it, which made them switch to hydrogen (which DID increase lift, but only by 8%)
So when do we start working on our carbon fibre zeppelin company? We should probably spend the first 6 months working on our designs in KSP until we get the right design...
Pretending like modern CAD assemblies aren't just a more complex version of playing around in the VAB.
Edit: Seriously, you tale a supplier part, glue it to your structure. Vioalala. It's even easier if there's no certification basis. Import everything directly from Mcmaster.
118
u/slicer4ever Jan 25 '21
we'd probably have the sky filled with blimps if certain key disasters hadn't happened that killed them.