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Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Aug. 18. [1]

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Date: 2022-08-18

Yep, I’m going to write about blimps this evening.

I was watching the new HBO documentary The Princess when I noticed the Goodyear Blimp in the sky after the Royal Wedding, as Charles and Diana rode past crowds in their horse-drawn carriage. Got me to thinking that it’s been quite some time since I saw a blimp … so I did a little research.

x We fly everywhere we go! Each of our three US-based blimps has a crew of about 20 that makes it happen. And yes we do have some openings… 👀 https://t.co/IvpMjvNJTm https://t.co/jIu2jKuYNA — Goodyear Blimp (@GoodyearBlimp) July 30, 2022 Frenchman Henri Giffard constructed the first successful airship in 1852. Airships, or dirigible balloons, are lighter-than-air aircraft that operate from a lifting-gas that is less dense than the surrounding air, keeping them afloat. The three main types of airships are rigid, semi-rigid, and non-rigid. Non-rigid airships are what people commonly call blimps. Blimps rely on internal pressure to maintain their shape. Semi-rigid airships also rely on internal pressure to maintain their shape, but the structure is also supported by metal keel at the bottom of the structure. Rigid airships, also called zeppelins, have a structural framework that keeps the shape and the lifting gas is contained in one or more cells within the airship. The first steam-powered airship took its first flight in September of 1852. Fifty-one years before the Wright brothers’ first flight, blimps claimed to be the future of air transportation. Here are some other amazing inventions that have changed the world. “Blimps or Zeppelins were primarily used for military and civilian purposes, including transatlantic travel,” says Jennifer Wilnechenko, editor of the travel site Etia.com. “In 1925, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company began building airships of the blimp design. These aircraft were used for advertising and military purposes (such as surveillance and anti-submarine warfare) throughout World War II.” As time went on though, the technology of airplanes and helicopters continued to advance and started becoming the more popular mode of air transportation. The decline of airships was then accelerated after a number of crashes occurred, most notably the German airship Hindenburg, which burst into flames while landing in New Jersey in 1937, killing 35 people on board. www.rd.com/... Blimps are expensive to fly, relying on so much helium that each flight can cost up to $100,000. Add to that the increasing cost of helium and it's understandable why the Blimp is seen so infrequently these days. (Helium isn't a greenhouse gas , but it is a byproduct of the production of fossil fuels, particularly natural gas.) Drone technology has also replaced blimps as a cheaper and easier way to view things from the air. Independent of the Goodyear blimps, there are about 25 other blimps still flying and ½ are used for advertising. Currently, there are four 246-foot-long Goodyear airships: Wingfoot One, Wingfoot Two and Wingfoot Three fly in the US, and there is also a European Goodyear Blimp. The European blimp toured London, Kent, and Essex in the UK in May. In late July, Wingfoot Three was in the Detroit area. x No town like Motown. pic.twitter.com/SnLmBF6tj0 — Goodyear Blimp (@GoodyearBlimp) July 29, 2022 x It's good to see a @GoodyearBlimp back on our little island, it's been awhile. Wingfoot Three is docking here for the PGA's Rocket Mortgage Classic. Years ago I got to fly in one of these and it was breathtaking. @detroitnews #michigan @TwpGrosseIle pic.twitter.com/SGArutipUH — Andy Morrison (@AndyMorrison_DN) July 28, 2022

x So long @GoodyearBlimp ! It was a pleasure having you and your crew in @oshawacity . You are welcome back anytime! #ouroshawa #N3A #goodyearblimp pic.twitter.com/lEcIcHz7FP — Oshawa Executive Airport (@OshExecAirport) June 13, 2022

x What’s it like to cover the @RBCCanadianOpen? Broadcast technician Jay Dewan captured some of the highlights during today’s flight. pic.twitter.com/dwPmwtKbu8 — Goodyear Blimp (@GoodyearBlimp) June 11, 2022

A blimp can stay in the air for up to three weeks. It has two pilots, and three grounds people for take-off and landing and can carry up to 14 passengers. At its fastest, it can travel around 75 mph.

x #BelieveItorNot, the official bird of Redondo Beach, California, is the Goodyear® Blimp! — Ripley's Believe It or Not! (@Ripleys) June 5, 2022

Up until the Hindenburg's explosion in 1937, America had been prepping infrastructure in anticipation of a future where the world's expanding fleet of dirigibles—lighter-than-air aircraft that rely on rudders and propellers—would dominate the skies, floating people and heavy cargo to almost any destination. The art deco spire atop the Empire State Building, for instance, was constructed as a docking terminal to load and unload passengers. And the U.S. government was so convinced airships were going to be the next big thing, officials even began stockpiling billions of liters of helium. (After realizing their prediction wasn't panning out, reserves of the lighter-than-air stuff were sold for more festive purposes, like party balloons).

The Airlander

The Airlander debuted in 2014 by the US Army (An Airship The Size of a Football Field Could Revolutionize Travel), touted as being capable of landing anywhere with storage amble enough to carry 50-tons of cargo. It can stay afloat long enough to circumnavigate the globe twice. It successfully flew six flights between 2016 and 2017 before it broke its moorings and self-deflated in 2017. The Highlander 10 was next, developed in Britain for use by the US Army.

The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander 10, originally developed as the HAV 304, is a hybrid airship designed and built by British manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV). Comprising a helium airship with auxiliary wing and tail surfaces, it flies using both aerostatic and aerodynamic lift and is powered by four diesel engine-driven ducted propellers. The HAV 304 was originally built for the United States Army's Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) programme. Its maiden flight took place in 2012 at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in the US. In 2013, the LEMV project was cancelled by the US Army. HAV reacquired the airship and brought it back to Cardington Airfield in England. It was reassembled and modified for civilian use, and in this form was redesignated the Airlander 10. The modified aircraft completed design certification testing before being written off [1] when it came loose from its moorings in a high wind on 18 November 2017 at Cardington Airfield. A production run of the Airlander 10 is now planned for 2025.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/18/2117022/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-Aug-18

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