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That joke would have been funnier if Zepplin wasn't back in business.

Clean hydrogen or alcohol turbines will make the pollution/mileage issue moot.

Do you know some way of isolating/finding hydrogen that I don't? Most of the breakdown methods I've heard of to produce semi-clean hydrogen in the kind of quantities necessary for this sort of thing are pretty inefficient - and it seems to get worse when you need to carry the hydrogen around (Which usually requires liquification/compression - Which means even MORE energy thrown at the process)
Now, of course, you could always carry the hydrogen uncompressed and use it to solve some of your lift problems, but that's a horse of a different color entirely.

Next time, instead of looking at the website, try READING IT!

and they aren't filled with hydrogen.

Smart marketing, but absolutely nothing to do with it being a zeppelin or not.

The rigid framework weighs about a tonne and provides great stability. It comprises triangular carbon-fibre frames and three aluminium longerons braced by aramide cables. All the main components of the airship such as cabin, empennage and engines are mounted on this rigid structure. This arrangement ensures that the airship retains optimum manoeuvrability even with a loss of envelope pressure

I haven't seen anyone mention this, but what I think is the most interesting part of this is that this thing is actualy not a lighter than air vehicle. It is, in fact, heavier than air (at least at takeoff), and therefore "flies" rather than being supported on buoyancy: Link to FAQ about airship here

From their website:

Fare per Person: EUR 335,00 Monday to Friday; EUR 370,00 on weekends and holidays.
Please visit www.zeppelinflug.de for booking.

If we are going to reach back in time for original ideas, I suggest leaving the ones that were not practical and grabing the ones that did have an impact. Leave Jet Packs, take the great Zeppelin air ships.

The Zeppelin-type ships got a bad reputation for (1) being associated with preWWII Germany (you know, the Castle Wolfenstein bad guys) and (2) getting burned down in an unfortunate accident in the US. Well fact (1) can be forgiven, I bet, after 60+ years and fact (2) should be put into context: the ship burned because Germany did not have access to the a non flammable gas alternative at the time (today it is not a problem).

And, behold, it *is* coming back. Brought to you by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik, who else.

It has now been forgotten, but the Empire State Building's top floor (where tourists go) was built, at the time, to be a docking point for the Zeppelin right in the middle of Manhattan. They even tried docking it there, but strong winds made them give it up... and never try again. But it makes me wonder, with all the microprocessor power we have today, modern sensors and actuators, and good software, couldn't it be tried again ? How would it do to public transportation ? Cargo transportation ? Leisure cruises ?

No, don't tell me about yet another fast train.

The inherent problem with airships is that the huge surface area combined with low weight means they get blown around easily and handle badly. Adding wings doesn't help. It's been tried. Adding power does help. Adding steerable power helps even more.

For an idea of what a successful modern lighter-than-air craft looks like, see Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, which has built several large rigid airships in the last few years. But even with carbon fibre and Kevlar, the load capacity is small.

Zeppelin-NT ?

www.zeppelin-nt.com

Actually, airships are making a comeback; even the name 'Zeppelin' is being resurrected by a new German company, although previous *cough* bad associations with the brand are being worked around by calling it... get this... Zeppelin NT. Honestly!
--
If the good lord had meant me to live in Los Angeles

for further information take a look at the hompage of "Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH".

philipp

The color of the burning (LZ-129) Hindenburg was from the skin and lining burning. Remaining airborne while aflame is something you can do with a sheet of tissue paper and a match. The tissue, as it burns, can rise, too.

The article barely mentions the number of years or miles logged by the LZ-129 and her sister ships.

--

The color of the burning (LZ-129) Hindenburg was from the skin and lining burning. Remaining airborne while aflame is something you can do with a sheet of tissue paper and a match. The tissue, as it burns, can rise, too.

The article barely mentions the number of years or miles logged by the LZ-129 and her sister ships.

--

Ah. Lighter than air. A subject I actually know something about :-)

Regardless of your pronouncements, airships are actually well suited for this purpose. In fact, there are several projects to fulfill this type of mission with unmanned airships.

At the altitudes involved, there is actually an atmospheric layer where winds are comparatively light.

The large surface area available on a lighter than air vehicle makes it a natural for collecting energy from sunlight. Gas retention is not a problem. Decades ago, comparatively small free balloons were already flown for periods of six months or more. A far cry from a few days, eh?

There is actually currently a renaissance of airships the likes of which has not been seen since World War II. Zeppelin Metallwerken in Germany has developed a unique semirigid design, which will initially be marketed for touring. CargoLifter, also in Germany, has just completed construction of a vast hangar, and is about to begin construction of a ship capable of carrying bulky indivisible items of cargo up to 160 tons for delivery from hover at minimally prepared destinations. Advanced Technologies Group in Britain is flight testing a scale model of a another cargo carrying design which uses an air cushion to make a large advance in ground handling. Lightship, in Britain, is currently conducting successful trials in Kosovo of a land-mine detecting and surveying airship.

References:
http://www.zeppelin-nt.com/
http://www.cargolifter.com/
http://www.airship.com/index_frames.htm
http://www.airships.com/
http://www.mineseeker.com/
http://spot.colo rad o.edu/~dziadeck/airship/htmls/introduction.htm

1. It's Hindenburg - the real reason was more that Germany was focusing on a soon to begin war - and airships don't make good warplanes anymore (BTW, Germany started already prior to the war scheduled Lufthansa flights Berlin NYC with Ju90 airplanes)
2. I assume you're talking about the Akron class airships, a cloned German design using even Maybach engines (well in fact even the first rigid US airship, the Shenandoah was already a clone - they took all measurements from the crashed German WW1 airship L49). Althou US engeneers tried not only to add new features (The Akron class ships where in fact flying aircraft carriers), but also to improve the 'heavy and unnecessarily reinforced' German design.
3. The two desasters, that took place in 1933 (Akron - in a realy severe stormfront) and 1935 (Macon) are eventualy a result thereof. So the USS Los Angeles (build in Germany as LZ 127) was the only non-crashing US rigid airship.
4. The Navy proved ? Well, 3 doomed US ships vs. hundreds of working German units is like the infamous 'the world needs only a total of five computers ever' quote :)
5. Zeppelins are coming back - well, not exactly, but there are two new design which are neither Blimps but also not complete frame Zeppelins.
   • First there is the Zeppelin NT (Yes, buils by air ship nerds from the very same company Graf Zeppelin founded) a small size airship (75m, 230ft, like a 747 :) with interior frame and doubble hull and swivelling propellers to allow start and landing in an independant way (read: no large ground crew needed anymore). The prototype unit LZ N07 (first flight 18.Sep.1997) can carry 14 Persons, making it one of the largest ships in existance - future Versions may have up to 40 passengers. The test programm is in the final steps for a general flight certificate of the German federal aviation agency (Bundesluftfahrtamt), to be issued during the next few month - serial production has already started.
   • Second there's the Cargolifter a huge (260m, 790ft) semi-rigid keel airship, ment as a flying special load truck, to propell things like power station equipent around the world. Able to lift 160 metric tons (size up to 50x8x8 m^3 / 150x25x25 ft^3). At the moment they have finished the 'workbench', a hall of 360x210x107m 120,000,000 ft^3, big enough for two ships (or 14 Boing 747 planes :). The first ship is to be finished in 2003, then 4 ships a year. Chargolifter is a FSE noted $250m company.
   you see, there's news to big airships - and big companies wouldn't invest their money if ist that useless.