Airships

I admit, I have a bit of a thing for airships. Maybe it's the idea of a reasonably swift long-distance flight without the can-of-sardines feel of a narrow jetliner. Maybe it's the throwback to the early 20th century, when those hydrogen behemoths, the zeppelins, traversed the skies.

Either way, I think it's very interesting that the technology is being explored again. One has to wonder if we'd already be at this point if not for early attempts that resulted in such events as the Hindenburg disaster, the crash of the USS Akron, and the British R-101.

That's where we've been. Now, take a look at what's next:


(a prototype for one model of the hybrid* airships)



*: hybrid in the sense that they only get a portion of their lift from lighter-than-air gas. The remaining lift comes from lifting-body designs and/or small wings, similar to a traditional aircraft.