It was deep in swampy Siberia one night in 1929 when, far overhead in the cold sky, some people were having a little too much fun. They turned on the phonograph, danced, and got rather drunk. Captain Lehmann of the Graf Zeppelin intervened, reminding the passengers that they were on an expedition, not in a […]
By Mark Piesing (BBC) Airships lost out to conventional aircraft after a series of disastrous crashes. But now safer technology could be the key to their return. Zeppelins fill the skies of Philip Pullman’s epic trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials. The giant airships of his parallel universe carry the mail, transport soldiers into […]
The world economy relies on five major modes of transportation: airplanes, ships/barges, trains, trucks and pipelines (fluids only). Each mode utilizes, and is defined by, different technological principles. For trains, the low friction running surface created by steel wheels over steel tracks, allows them to pull huge loads with relatively little energy. For airplanes, aerodynamic […]
Remote Manitoba communities worried over looming loss of land access MAGGIE MACINTOSH AS climate change makes Manitoba winters increasingly unpredictable, leaders in remote First Nations are crossing their fingers, hoping for a long-lasting winter road season so residents can travel and essential goods can be transported via truck. “Every year, you worry: ‘If they’re not […]
A LONGTIME champion of airships is urging the province to get on board with the mode of transportation so it can become a future method of delivering goods to remote communities. For years, Barry Prentice, a member of the University of Manitoba’s Transport Institute, has been touting cargo airships as a carbon-neutral option — they’re […]
New technologies tend to make great demands on the imagination because everything about them is novel and unprecedented. Even if you grasp the essence of the new technology, the implementation snafus, varied applications, impact and hype, cannot be imagined. The unusual thing about airships is that they are not new, and so we can learn […]
By Tim Harford Listen to podcast here: http://timharford.com/2019/11/cautionary-tales-ep-4-the-deadly-airship-race/ “A British Lord wanted to build the best airship in the world – and so he had two rival design teams battle it out to win the juicy government contract. Competition is supposed to bring the best out of people, but run in the wrong way it […]
By Hugh Riminton on Sunday Extra Listen to podcast here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/11751856 With growing concerns about the high GHG emissions produced by jet aircraft and shipping, scientists and engineers are looking at a new generation of low or no-emission airships to carry cargo around the world. Guest: Barry Prentice – President of Buoyant Aircraft Systems International […]
The Goodyear blimp is a household name and the most visible instance of applied airship technology today. In some respects, it is the best advertisement for the potential of airship technology to revolutionize future transportation, too. After operating GZ-20 blimps safely for 48 years (1969-2017), Goodyear retired the last of these well-known blimps and replaced […]
Article By Starre Julia Vartan – onezero.medium.com This August, Greta Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic in a zero-emission sailboat to protest the high carbon footprint of plane travel. But there’s good reason to think she may someday travel to climate protests via airship — the same giant aircraft, buoyed by gas-filled balloons, that were popular […]
