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Boeing-Skyhook Airship Faces Technical Challenges

waderoush writes "Since the Hindenburg disaster, dreams of giant airships capable of lifting heavy cargo have been restricted mainly to Popular Science covers (with the notable exception of the Cargolifter AG failure) — until Boeing and a Canadian company called Skyhook announced on July 8 that they're building a 300-foot-long, helium-filled craft that will lift loads of up to 40 tons and carry them 200 miles. But an aeronautical engineer at the University of Washington cautions that there are still some big problems to be worked out with mega-airships, including their stability in turbulent weather."

4 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. cunts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    twitter 4evar.

    Winblow$ suck balls

  2. Really? by ROMRIX · · Score: -1, Troll

    I can't foresee anything possibly going wrong while lifting 40 tons with a balloon, that is susceptible to the whims of the air currents, over a 200 mile span. No, really, I can't. lololololol!!!!11!!one!!

  3. Re:I can fix that one ... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 0, Troll

    Moderation -1, 100% Troll

    Humor process failure in module - Moderator
    Abort, Retry, Fail

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. Re:Oblig. Simpsons by DaedalusHKX · · Score: -1, Troll

    The reason the governments will try to get involved, is because if the price of production goes down, these things are fairly cheap to operate compared to airliners (course those stories circulating lately that most airliners haven't been maintained properly in years explains the "low cost of jetliners" thus far.) Also, that being said, governments cannot allow semi autonomous or totally autonomous vehicles to operate without their control. This might give people the idea that they can live free, and such things have to be kept out of the mainstream. Look for some government regulation to raise the cost of airships if they prove viable when used with 21st century tech rather than 19th century tech.

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    " What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler