How Airships Could Overcome a Century of Failure

A new breed of airships seeks to take flight and provide a greener solution for both luxury travel and heavy industry. But is the business case for bringing them back enough to overcome a troubled past?

#Travel #Accelerate #BloombergQuicktake
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[business]

What are some niche applications that you think modern airships could serve better than alternative modes?

[jimvanm]

I love the no-nonsense, realistic perspective of the people building these things. They're not trying to pitch some fairy tale; they know it's tough, and they know there's lots of risks, but they still believe it's worth doing. I hope they succeed; I suspect they will.

[tobiwan]

I have heard all those arguments before in the 1990s. I fell for it for a while, but the main problems are not solved (wind resistance, aerodynamics, changes in weight through fuel burn and payload), while the commercial applications are very narrow.

[l.b.]

One of the biggest practical problems that I see for "air ships" is their vulnerability to weather.

[etangdescygnes]

I conceived the idea of a heavier-than-air, helium-filled airship that would lift a payload by aerodynamic lift during my degree in aeronautical engineering, during the 1980s. On a long train journey not long after graduating, I did the basic calculations. The maths proved to be insurmountable. In the troposphere, the airship’s low airspeed, large skin surface, and large projected frontal and side areas made both steady winds and gusts a menace. A cross-wind or headwind of (say) 20 knots, would seriously affect scheduled operations. The problem worsened with flight duration. But that wasn't all. If the aircraft was flying at (say) 80 knots, generating lift for level flight, and there was a tailwind gust of (say) 20 knots, the decrease in lift would be severe. My hybrid vehicle faced serious wind shear problems during take-off and landing, and offered a nasty, bumpy cruise. In a place such as Britain, the periods during which acceptable weather would prevail throughout journeys would be a huge restriction versus conventional turbofan airliners. Due to its large area the envelope could bear a significant mass of rainwater, even as the water was draining off it. Snow and ice could be nightmares. I considered stratospheric flight, above the worst of the weather, but the low air density drastically cut the payload, posed a big problem for the ballonet (“swim bladder”) buoyancy control system, and necessitated cabin pressurisation. The airship could land as a substantially heavier-than-air vehicle, but as the payload was removed, it became lighter. This necessitated ballast, such as water, being pumped or loaded onto the airship as the payload was removed. If this wasn’t done, the airship began to suffer from the usual problem of all lighter-than-air vehicles, needing to be tied down. I figured the airship would have to be tied down between being loaded, but directional stressing problems would then ensue during thunderstorms and the like, necessitating the airship being parked in a hangar. At least a hangar would keep the seagulls etc. off the vehicle, which would be very difficult to clean due to its size. Flights that require just two or three meals in today’s turbofans, would need many more meals, plus greater provision for human, food, and other wastes, and legal working hours for flight and cabin crew would demand many more staff. The envelope would generate static electricity that could be discharged through wicks, but since it would be almost entirely non-conducting, special provision had to be made for lightning. (Conventional airliners are protective Faraday cages.) Productivity was a major issue. In the time my airship took to cross the Atlantic once, an airliner could make four crossings, but the airship could not carry anywhere near four times as many passengers, and in any case, why would they want to travel so slowly in a pitching and heaving airship at a low altitude across the menacing ocean, with only the roughest idea of their arrival time?! What was more, I discovered that while many companies want to dispatch freight quickly by jet airliner, and many more companies wanted to send freight much more cheaply by sea, there wasn’t an “in-between” market. In other words, there would be almost no demand to send freight that currently crosses the Atlantic in six or seven days, over the Atlantic in 36 hours by airship; if it had to arrive quickly, it would be sent by jet airliner. I concluded that while there are probably viable niche civil and military applications for a heavier-than-air airship, it would never be a big seller. It would make much more sense to develop biofuels to power conventional turbofans, or develop large 400 KTA turboprops powered by hydrogen. By the time I got off the train, I had dismissed the concept.

[yossarianreborn]

My mum worked at Airship Industries in Cardington Hangers. Hard to believe how big these hangers are until you're inside. In the right condition's it would have its own small clouds inside at the top.

[leafnut]

I'd pay to fly around in an airship, like a cruise in the sky, seeing inaccessible sights at slow speeds. Would be an absolute joy!

[conniepoo]

I’ve always dreamed of a clubbing airship ever since I saw the one in just cause 2. Imagine a touring party airship that visits places like Greenland or Iceland.

[pi.actual]

There was an enterprise, I believe it was called Zeppelin NT, that flew sight seeing tours over San Francisco about ten years ago. I think it was like $500/hr for a seat and they are no longer in operation. A large airship essentially has to be monitored and attended 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, an expensive endeavor. Even in a major metro area there are only so many people willing to pay that much money for a ride in a blimp.

[tsbrownie]

I've been fascinated by lighter than air (LTA) for the past 60 years. It's undeniably cool and graceful. But there's lots of "buts." It's slow. It's slow because it has a huge volume. That huge volume is filled with an expensive gas that is getting rarer and more expensive. They leak gas. And in a surprise twist, that gas weighs a lot (has mass) that has to be moved. One pound of helium is about 2.5 cu yards (or meters), a million cubic yards weights about 400k pounds. Like a boat on the water, it's hard to start moving, it's hard to stop. They have a limited ceiling in the single digit thousands of feet making them susceptible to storms / turbulent ground winds. Most aircraft talk about power/weight ratio, with airships it is that plus power to volume ratio; you need power to overcome even light winds because of the huge surface area. They require huge hangars. They don't like snow and ice, and rain is not their friend. The fabric is sun resistant, but we all know how that goes. And on and on. That's why we keep hearing about the rebirth of airships only to have our hope and dreams dashed by financial reality and physics.

[TgWags]

I live in an area where, on occasion, we get to observe the goodyear airships. One time a severe front blew through and the airship I was watching got caught in the turbulence. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that the airship when from standing straight up on its tail to pointing straight at the ground rolling back and forth. It was so jaw dropping that its hard to find words to describe it! Roller coaster is mild to comparison. The only thing I can think of is the Niagara rapids at full flow above the falls. Imagine being in a barrel through that and it would probably compare. If you look at all the footage touting these airships, they are always beautiful days with no wind. I don't believe they will ever be consistently viable due to weather concerns. They can't help but be a bobber on a river of air.

[ibsn]

As a regional pilot that's been dealing with weather extremes <25, 000 feet the last few years. The already niche market this provides seems even more niche when you cant fly due to unfavorable weather. I haven't even been able to take the boat out in the last 3 months. Imagine waiting for CAVOK calm wind weather just to pick up a log from the forest... I love aviation, but this just wont be viable. Why is no-one talking about the fact that we are consuming helium with NO way to manufacture helium....

[irahoppe]

I've always thought airships had a home in tourism.
Also, since we now have automation it seems reasonable for cargo airships be drones so they can use hydrogen (which I understand has better lifting power than helium).

[basedkaiser]

I really want to see these projects succeed, there’s something magical about airships.

[johnpaulcolthrust]

One problem is that unlike hydrogen, helium is a very rare and non-renewable resource with other very serious uses eg: MRI machines. Once it leaks away it is irrecoverable, so very aggressive helium conservation will have to be integral to the technology if it is to be a significant transportation option.

[IBeforeAExceptAfterK]

I feel like we're not really going to see the return of airships until someone comes up with a viable solution for operating in suboptimal weather conditions. This video kinda glosses over just how limiting a factor weather is to the viability of airships.

[rickbiessman]

Such a fantastic documentary. When I realized it was over, I was extremely surprised that these 20 minutes had already passed. Thanks to everyone involved in making this documentary! =)

[GreenGoblet]

Airships are soooo cool and seem to capture the imagination more than any other form of aircraft (besides maybe The Concorde).

I sincerely hope to take a trip on one these someday, glad this industry is being revived

[fdjw]

i work years as a financial analyst, and let me tell you when i heard an investment only has "niche" application in the market, it gets the entire team nervous, especially when the investment also has a high price tag (in the case of "The Whale" already 5B euro development fee). there are a couple more things i want to add regarding airships
1. none existing infrastructure. currently no country on the planet has an experience ground crew to maintain and operate airship. in addition, there are no existing space to store and refuel the airship. literally everything will have to be build from the ground up. this alone is already very unattractive to the transport industry. as it was stated in this vid "the transport industry has very low margin."
2. another problem regarding "the whale" is vehicle maintenance vs transported value. the whale is 200m long, which requires an insanely large storage and maintenance facility. all that capital investment, at the end of the day, you get a transportation vehicle with a carry weight of 60t. that's extreme tiny compare to the size of the vehicle. anyone can do a quick research and see how much weight a 200m cargo ship can carry, there is simply no comparison. plus ship crews are widely available all over the world.
3. ease of operation. as mentioned in the vid, airship lose weight when cargos are dropped and the vehicle automatically gains altitude. it's just not practical to have 30t of water inside your airship all the time. imagine your airship flies to the destination, and before loading can start, the airship will first spend an hour or more unloading 30t of water. you certainly can't just open you loading bay and let all 30t of water randomly drop on the ground right? in the shipping industry, time is money. there is a reason why ship crew no longer get on shore free time when the arrive at a port. because shipping companies are paying interest and principles on those cargo ships every minute.
personally, airship looks cool, but with the current technology, it's still not a viable transportation option.

[TheElnots]

Hey I remember hearing about these airships transporting cargo in the 90s! I think Modern Marvels did a special on it. Glad to see that in over 20 years they have made a tiny amount of progress on it!