The Spectacular Future of the Airship | Hello World with Ashlee Vance

Google's Sergey Brin wants to bring back zeppelins, the majestic airships whose golden age passed a century ago with the Hindenburg disaster. We travel from California to Ohio and the Hindenburg's birthplace in Germany to see if this new old style of aviation can really make a comeback.

#HelloWorld #technology #Bloomberg
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[motionsic]

Great episode! Love that Count Zeppline’s legacy is still benefitting his town’s folk more than a century after he’s gone. Great man!

[Johnny_Socko]

There are a couple of things that I wish everyone knew about the history of airships. One is that the German Zeppelin Transport Company never had ONE passenger casualty from its formation in the early 1900s until the Hindenburg. Imagine if the world had given up on airplane development because of one airplane crash. In fact, the Germans always made safety and airmanship their top priorities. (Contrast with the USA, which built 3 highly advanced airships, and crashed them all due to poor airmanship.)

The second thing is that Dr. Hugo Eckener, who ran the Zeppelin company following the death of Count Zeppelin, was not a Nazi and was ideologically opposed to Adolf Hitler. In fact, Eckener was so popular in Germany that people tried to convince him to run for Chancellor in opposition to Hitler, but Eckener did not want to be in politics. Eventually of course the Nazi regime would paint swastikas on the Hindenburg, but Hitler was disdainful of airships due to Dr. Eckener's involvement, and his regime withheld development money from the company. (Which only makes the company look even better in hindsight.)

After WWII, the Zeppelin company operated under the name ZF (Zeppelin Friedrichshafen), and focused on making alumin(i)um components for automobiles, aircraft, and other industries. Decades of manufacturing the gigantic frames of airships had made them world-class experts in aluminum manufacturing. That line of business kept the company prosperous during the many years when they were not making any airships, and it continues to this day -- if your car has a "ZF" transmission, that's them.

[superbmediacontentcreator]

I'm seventy and I think every decade or so a new "resurgence of the airship" comes around. So as I think back there were the airships made from old helicopters to haul trees, and then there was a rush of small marketing airships like the Jordash blimp and a Bond film. Then there were concepts of twin-hulled airships that were to be used for cheap transatlantic freight and selling the dream of luxurious passenger cruising airships and on and on and on. Airships seem to be magic and it always seems to grab a player every decade or so.

[Gryphonisle]

I remember when the last airship, a German model, flew over SF at $500 a seat (it didn’t last long). It was only slightly longer than a blimp but that was enough to impress. To see one of these in the sky, at the length of a larger liner, like the Canberra or Lurline. will be breathtaking.

[DevRel]

I used to live in Mountain View and always drove past the airfield wondering if they had anything going on in the old Zeppelin docks, to know they had started building this thing when I lived there is so cool!

[thomasbeach]

Zeppelins did, in fact, serve as airliners for years in Germany, with no casualties, in the interwar period. The weather there is less unpredictable than in the US, and these airships were smaller than the USS Macon or Akron.

[robertkresse]

I am 70 years old and was born in Akron when my dad worked at Goodyear he was the one who drew up plans for the air ventilation system on their first airship.

[TheKalle]

In 1996 some dreamer rised the CargoLifter AG, planed to create airships carring up to 160t of freight. The problem with airships is, if you drop e.g. 160 tons of freight, you need 160 tons of water or whatever ( or waste the expensive helium ) to equalize the losed weight. Find 160 tons (160.000 liters or 42268 gal ) of water in a jungle or right in the middle of a disaster area.
Don´t invest money in a dream.

CargoLifter created at the end nothing but a big balloon, you can still visit the rest of this dream, a big hangar, made for a, ,Zeppelin", at the end a all weather fun-parc called Tropical Island, 50km southern of Berlin.

[timshelby]

I have seen stories every few years since the 80's talking about how in the near future this is gonna be a game changer . Never happened

[Joshua-utul]

"I'm going to poke my head out the window" 🤣 I would also do that if I had the opportunity!

[NormanF]

Flying in an airship is on my bucket list! I’ve flown in airplanes and in helicopters but never in a light as an airship. It would be a one in s lifetime experience. To do something both cool and fun! I hope the airship makes a comeback. 😊

[nickcaci]

As a young lad in the early sixties, I had a chance to walk around inside an old airship hanger located at a naval air base, just south of Boston Ma. At that time it only served an aircraft storage and maintenance facility and not to long after torn down. I was totally awestruck by the huge space inside. I’ve always hoped for a big airship comeback. Even if technology and capital investments can be brought to bare, I fear that wind and weather will have the final say for both structure and craft.

[Wolf-..]

I was fortunate to have flown on the Zeppelin NT from Moffett Field in Sunnyvale CA several years ago. Thanks for this video.

[drumzone]

I got to fly on one of the GoodYear blimps in Michigan when I was a kid and it's definitely an experience I will never forget!

[davidjgill]

Glad to see that much of this work is being done in Akron, Ohio at the Akron Airdock.

[iaroslavkoshelev]

Thanks for this topic! I am a fan of this type of aviation, I think that airships have great potential for use. Especially their macro and hybrid options. I have my own ideas regarding the design features and application of such transport of various specializations: cargo ships, sky yachts, mobile nomadic apartments, scientific laboratories, etc.

[bradleymanning]

Great video. I spent 12 yrs in the U.S.M.C., and I think 6 or 7 yrs. of it was in Marine Corps Air Station (H) in Tustin Ca. There are 2 Blimp hangers there converted to Helicopter hangers. I spent many hrs. on the floors looking up (wishing for the trip you took to the Walkway at the top). Thank You again for a GREAT trip into the Past and hopefully the Future.

[jaytc]

Airships are a fascinating idea. There's something about watching one move slowly and gracefully through the air. Sergei Brin is not the first person in recent times to try out this idea. Lockheed was working on an airship that relies on a combination of LTA lift and an envelope that is shaped like an airfoil. There are some very real logistical hurdles though.

First, the world's supply of helium has always been severely limited and it's mostly controlled by the United States. Dr. Hugo Eckener, the man who designed the Hindenburg, approached the United States government and asked for helium which is what he actually wanted the Hindenburg to fly with. He was turned down and was forced to rely on hydrogen instead. Hydrogen is actually more buoyant than helium but as we all know, it comes with very, very serious risks. So if you're going to do these "heavy lift" LTA applications, helium is safe but it's not practical. Hydrogen "might" be an alternative for UAV-type airships but even that has risks for people on the ground.

Another problem is weather. Airships don't do very well in high winds and storms. The R101 was a British airship that was built to take passengers from England across long distances to India. The ship barely made it to France when it crashed in the French countryside in a storm. The USS Macon, a navy airship, was torn apart off the coast near Monterey, California in 1935 due to wind shear. Airships just can't deal with bad weather. It's as simple as that.

So while the idea of airships is intriguing, some reality-based perspective is in order. So far, none of these ambitious design ideas has made it past the "experimental" or research phase. And to date, the only economically viable airships are in marketing and advertising. Even tourist-based airship companies in the United States haven't survived.

If I had to guess, Sergei Brin already knows that this won't work. He's simply putting his money into a "business" venture for tax reasons. But it sure is fun!

Sorry, but this thing is going nowhere and I think that this CEO knows it.

[hueywallop]

Beautiful video! I recommend Alexander Rose’s excellent book “Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World“. It wasn’t the zeppelins’ excessive flammability that doomed them; rather, it was their lack of profitability.

[DJAYPAZ]

Oddly, no mention was made of the unique advantages offered by airships. There are many so I'll mention a few of them. Very long loitering time would be useful in many scenarios. Disaster recovery is one such example. When the affected area is utterly destroyed, no roads, everything is destroyed. Many coastal towns were utterly wiped out by the Fukushima earthquake. Bring in the airship it doesn't even need to land so it could be a source of support and recovery based on how it is configured. A mobile medical facility for example. Long duration rescue missions is another possible use.