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Zeppelin Flies Again

Posted by Hemos on from the taking-to-the-air dept.

rakerman writes "The Globe and Mail reports Japanese firm buys first new-look Zeppelin. "Makers of the revived Zeppelin airship delivered their first helium-filled craft to a commercial user Saturday, a Japanese company that plans to use the 12-seat craft for sightseeing trips and advertising." They call themselves Zeppelin-NT, or as the Germans say "Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH"."

36 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Oh the humanity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is a terrible day! What a tragedy! Oh, my God! Those poor people!

    1. Re:Oh the humanity! by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Damn, when I first read the headline, I thought they finally were going to hae a Led Zeppelin reunion concert tour.....

      Oh well........

      :-(

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Oh the humanity! by Paulrothrock · · Score: 4, Funny
      The japanese must have some technology to bring Bonham back from the dead!

      (There's a really great classical work called "Bonham" that all LZ fans should check out.)

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    3. Re:Oh the humanity! by karait · · Score: 5, Funny

      Zeppelin-NT A product composed of TWO items famous for crashes!

    4. Re:Oh the humanity! by flyneye · · Score: 2, Funny

      Lets try Nitrous Oxide this time.
      You wont need to fill the compartment,just the passengers.
      Should float nicely.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    5. Re:Oh the humanity! by flyneye · · Score: 2, Funny

      Depends on if it is Zeppelin NT3.x ,Zeppelin NT4 or Zeppelin 2000 professional and whether patches have been applied.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    6. Re:Oh the humanity! by APDent · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's OK. When I first read Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, I thought it had something to do with lutefisk. I don't think lutefisk can fly. At least I hope not. The idea of helium-filled, lye-soaked, dried cod flying about isn't one I relish.

    7. Re:Oh the humanity! by gujo-odori · · Score: 3, Funny

      There's no way I'd fly in it. With a name like that, it can't go more than a few days without crashing. Plus, any time the pilot changed any control, you'd have to land and take off again, so even if it didn't crash, it would take forever to get anywhere.

    8. Re:Oh the humanity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Always thought it would make a good name for a perfume....Eau de Humanity.

  2. Zep2k by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should upgrade to Zep 2000 (based on NT technology.)

  3. Zeppelin-NT? by ChimpyMonkey · · Score: 1, Funny

    Zeppelin-NT: its hardly new technology is it?

  4. Helium? by SlayerofGods · · Score: 1, Funny

    "their first helium-filled craft"
    What ever happened to the hydrogen economy? ;)

    --

    Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
    1. Re:Helium? by Hiro+Antagonist · · Score: 1, Funny

      What ever happened to the hydrogen economy? ;)

      The Hindenburg.

      --

      --
      I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy .sig.
  5. Full of hot air by Sefert · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm not sure naming it Zeppelin NT is such a wise move. Would you get on an aircraft with a namesake that's prone to crash? Oh, the humanity!

  6. Comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You lost a great opportunity to be quiet. Don't let those pass you again.

    Sincerely,
    Mr Blinky

  7. Wow, really old news by operagost · · Score: 1, Funny

    This story is so old! They've already released Zeppelin 2000 and Zeppelin XP since then!

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  8. Zeppelin NT? by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 3, Funny


    Does that mean BSOD = Blimp Screen of Death?

    (and as long as I have you here...)

    I know a Zeppelin has to have a Captain, but will it have a Kernel as well?

    ba-dum-DUM!

    Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

  9. Taking bets on - by hartba · · Score: 1, Funny

    The amount of time between now and the day Jimmy Page and Microsoft sue for trademark infringement. -B

    --
    60 percent of the time, my comments are right everytime.
  10. Zeppelin NT? by weeboo0104 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Gives new meaning to BSOD (Blue Sky of Death).

    --
    It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
  11. damn you slashdot... by wwest4 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I though maybe John Bonham (deceased Zeppelin drummer) had been cloned or something.

  12. Re:MOD PARENT UP by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 4, Funny


    Considering that the Hindenburg itself was *literally* flamebait, perhaps the mod was going all uber-meta and using the flamebait mod as a subtle show of recognition.

    Then again, maybe the mod's just a dumbass.

  13. GmbH?? by Bruha · · Score: 1, Funny

    I know it's like INC but in german but everytime I see it I think it's some slang name for a street drug.

  14. Advertising? by Guppy06 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "a Japanese company that plans to use the 12-seat craft for (...) advertising."

    If they put light-emitting diodes on the sides for an electronic billboard, would that make it a LED Zeppelin?

  15. Re:12 Passengers? by maxbang · · Score: 2, Funny

    *Smugly hurls slusich through zeppelin window.*

    No ticket.

    --
    I also reply below your current threshold.
  16. Zeppelin NT ? by p4ul13 · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article: We named it "ZeppelinNT because we want people to know that it will be patched regularly to keep it from crashing".

    Personally I'll never understand marketing folks. =)

    --
    Paul Lenhart writes words!
  17. bah! by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 2, Funny

    that'll go over like a lead.. uh, um, nevermind

  18. Life imitating art... by petepac · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...advertising air ships just like in Blade Runner. Bio-manufactured organs are comming next.

    --
    >> Practice Safe Hex
  19. Zeppelin Defense System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Not to worry, the US military now has SZDI (Strategic Zeppelin Defense Initiative) in place. It consists of a giant thumbtack being fired at the Zeppelin.

  20. Re:NT? by cmacb · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think Microsoft has a solid claim for prior art on vapor technology.

  21. Re:Iron oxide, cellulose acetate, and aluminum pow by Rorschach1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Iron oxide and powdered aluminum? Holy crap, there's some brilliant engineering for you.

    "Hmmm... this hydrogen-filled airship is flammable... but couldn't we make it MORE flammable?"

    "I know! Let's dope it with thermite!"

  22. Yuppers by SnappingTurtle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Me too. Very disappointed that it just turned out to be about a big balloon.

    --
    I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
    1. Re:Yuppers by Foxwell · · Score: 3, Funny

      The NT has ribs--3 longitudinal ribs made of aluminum, spaced by triangular transverse frames made of composites. It is classified as a "semirigid," meaning that the frame helps keep the overall shape and distributes the lift, but the lift gas has to be pressurized to put tension on the skin, which contains the gas and also serves as the aerodynamic surface, as in blimps.

      Blimps are nonrigid or pressure ships--all of their structure results from pressurizing the lift gas by means of air ballonets inside them. They have no rigid members.

      The alternative is a rigid frame and stiff external skin; this approach frees you of the need to pressurize the lift gas. Generally this means a complex structure like the classic Zeppelins--but that structure was often, even taken altogether with its numerous parts of gas cells, netting, frame members, wiring, and outer skin, lighter per unit of lift volume than blimps, even the best modern blimps.

      The big drawback of pressure ships, including semirigids, is that if you lose pressure for any reason you lose structure. On a semirigid it is not quite as bad, especially on the NT with its three ribs which pretty much would maintain the basic shape, but you'd lose skin tension hence get a lot more draggy. On a blimp loss of pressure is a disaster. Also, pressure ships are hard to partition so any big leak or rip will tend to spill _all_ the lift gas, whereas on the rigids the gas was kept in numerous separate cells and total deflation of one or several might still leave the ship airborne--I know of several instances of that.

      The semirigid form does allow you to distribute weights all along the length of the ship which is important, and the NT version also allows elements like the props to be moved up along the width of the hull, kind of like what was possible on the old rigids. What is most "new" about the New Technology Zeppelin is its vectored thrust system. Modern blimps have used pairs of vectored props (though attached to the gondola, their only rigid element, rather than up along the hull sides which is clearly better) but the NT adds an arrangement on the tail tip that greatly increases the control available; this is possible because of the ribs.

      Still a number of us wish they'd gone ahead and made a modern rigid while they were at it; such a ship would have enabled all this, freed them of pressurization issues, and given the crew access to the entire interior so if an engine gave trouble in mid-air someone could go and try to fix it. Happened all the time on the rigids! Fortunately modern engines are more reliable, but a major issue of the NT is that you need special equipment to get at the engines, mounted up high as they are, for maintenance, it restricts their operations.

      I also think a modern rigid would have been as light or lighter, and very possibly cheaper to make and maintain. All they'd need to do to make the NT a rigid would be to devise some kind of very light aerodynamic shell to replace the skin, and then design some gas cells--just basically balloons-to fit inside the spaces betweent the frames. Well actually the frames are braced with wires so either the cells would have to contain those or else the structure would have to be redesigned to avoid running the wires there.

  23. Re:Zeppelin XP by HermanZA · · Score: 3, Funny

    Optimized for Internet Exploder...
    Badabim, badaBOOM...

  24. I guess it was just... by Art+Tatum · · Score: 4, Funny

    A communication breakdown.

  25. He was refering to the "NT" part by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pilot: "Ah, look how nice and blue the sky is up here!"

    Co-Pilot: "Actually we're still in clouds. That's a blue screen."

    Pilot: "Hold me."

  26. Be Careful. by Zilfondel2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Back when I was a kid right before World War 2, I was riding on a Zeppelin when this strange guard was checking tickets. One of the passengers didn't have one, so he tossed him out the window.