Slashdot Mirror
New Type of Hot Air Blimp
An anonymous reader writes to let un know about a story up on the Experimental Aircraft Association site about a new kind of blimp. From the article: "Alberto, whose name pays homage to Brazilian aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont, is 102 feet long with a 70-foot diameter and uses hot air rather than helium for lift. Its innovative foldable frame (much like an giant umbrella) creates structural support of its hot-air envelope, and it has a fly-by-wire vectored thrust steering system. Alberto is a hybrid; a hot-air balloon with aluminum ribs that looks more like a blimp, but with a tail propeller that gives it directional control." The home site of the blimp's developers has a timeline, photos, and a video of the blimp in flight.
Just because you don't want to fly slowly at treetop level doesn't mean others don't want to, there's more to life than blasting from city to city always rushing...
Just because something is enormous unfolded doesn't mean it will be when it is folded...oh you have an umbrella? Where are you going to store that!? It would take up your whole closet!
Their patent is for hot-air ballons with internal frames which is much more new and innovative than 90% of patents out there (I'm looking at the company who's suing Nintendo for the trigger on the wii)
Stop being a hater for a single second and think about this, this thing is completely new. It's simple to fly, easier than hot-air balloons or blimps. Just think of the uses, replace a couple tour buses with this thing and you get the same maneuverability, better views, and little to no traffic on your tour. What other vehicle can do that?
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing