New Details On Sergey Brin's Plan For The World's Largest Aircraft (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares The Guardian's report on plans for a new aircraft that's two-and-a-half times the size of a 747. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is building a hi-tech airship in Silicon Valley destined to be the largest aircraft in the world, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the project. "It's going to be massive on a grand scale," said one, adding that the airship is likely to be nearly 200 meters [656 feet] long... Brin wants the gargantuan airship, funded personally by the billionaire, to be able to deliver supplies and food on humanitarian missions to remote locations. However, it will also serve as a luxurious intercontinental "air yacht" for Brin's friends and family.

One source put the project's price tag at $100m to $150m. Igor Pasternak, an airship designer who was involved in the early stages of the project, believes airships could be as revolutionary for the trillion-dollar global cargo market as the internet was for communications. "Sergey is pretty innovative and forward looking," he said. "Trucks are only as good as your roads, trains can only go where you have rails, and planes need airports. Airships can deliver from point A to point Z without stopping anywhere in between."
The Guardian quips that while Brin's plans may stay secret for a while, "the good news is that the first flight test of such an enormous aircraft will be impossible to hide."

Comments

Split Take

[SuperKendall]

The Spruce Goose of our time, or the Hindenburg of our time? Cannot decide.

Re:Split Take

[phantomfive]

These quotes from the article are precious though:

“Sergey is pretty innovative and forward looking,” -----> Yeap, that's why he he decided on a technology that was discarded over half a century ago

“Trucks are only as good as your roads, trains can only go where you have rails, and planes need airports." --------> If only someone had invented helicopters. Nah, that'd never work

“Personally, I’d love to have airships going back and forth across the Atlantic. I couldn’t think of any better way of doing that journey.” ----------> No, airplane is better. Really. In fact, make it supersonic. There is nothing in the Atlantic that you want to see and storms suck.

The only reason to cross the Atlantic by zeppelin is because you hate people and your private island isn't doing it for you anymore.

Re:High-flying dangerous idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Stuff like this tends to happen if some people just have more money than they know what to do with ...

Stuff like this tends to happen when government neglects to tax rich people. When they feel the pinch of taxes, suddenly they think of more productive ways to spend their money.

Re:Better living through chemistry

[Applehu Akbar]

"Is there some additive that could make hydrogen safe? "

Yes, just mix with oxygen and toss in a match. The H2 is perfectly safe after that.