Should Airships Make A Comeback?

We posted this video yesterday, but took it down soon after when we noticed an error. Here’s take 2 - thank you for watching!

The number one reason why air ship should make a comeback is because they look awesome

I actually wrote my senior thesis many years ago about how airships occupy a nice place economically for shipping. I keep waiting for them to make a comeback.

For the buoyancy problem mentioned at 15:00 there are several simple solutions: * If you use hydrogen just use it to power something with a hydrogen fuel cell (creates water) * If you use helium just vent the helium into a storage tank on the ground that's weighed down so it doesn't float away.

Helium filled airships are no problem, but the biggest problem with them, is control. Many years ago at Hatfield , a British Airways Airship landed on a small strip of land. From there about 8 passengers got out, as it was their destination. I was just one of about 30 strong lads on the ground holding onto the main rope in the front of the airship, and we struggled to keep her on the ground. Obviously as the airship emptied her cargo( passengers), the aluminium gondola became lighter. The lift being constant, it wanted to lift up. It was a calm virtually no breeze summer afternoon, and we /the captain too, had a great deal of problems keeping the airship from just lifting off the ground. Once some more passengers filled it, it became easier to control. Then when it needed to take off again, it used to ducted fan engines acting downwards to help her lift off the ground. Now this was a calm balmy summers day, and I was amazed at the lifting power of this airship, and thus also the difficulty trying to control it, if the wind picks up , even a bit. Thus although they can lift and fly serenely and probably with less noise and pollution than a plane or helicopter, You are even more at the mercy of the wind, than a plane or helicopter. Providing your journey is not against the wind, once up in the air, it wont cost you much in fuel! Should they be brought back, that depends if they can solve the endemic control problems just highlighted here!

It’s amazing how airships are the technology that won’t die. A friend of mine graduated from college back in the 80s and went to work for a company doing research into LTA aircraft for the Navy. Also, back in the late 80s, Dean Ing wrote a sci-fi book called “The Big Lifters”, where he built a whole multi-modal transportation system around hybrid airships.

I've liked blimps and airships since I could remember and I really hope to see one that is as big or bigger than the Hindenburg. I believe that airships are way, WAY ahead of their time, and as such so were the problems they faced. But now technology and the knowledge of physics and old materials being used in new ways combined with new materials being tested, I really think we are catching up to that age where airships will be recognized as a safe reliable craft for all kinds of purposes. Also lets not forget that our understanding of the weather is vastly better than what it was almost 100 years ago! Im excited to see what develops.

Comparing Hindenburg to a modern zeppelin would be like comparing Chernobyl to a modern nuclear power plant

Airships have been trying to make a comeback for decades. In 2007, I myself was involved in an airship startup. We wanted to build a 500 meter long rigid body airship for cargo. Then after market analysis we settled on smaller ships to serve as sky cranes and tourism airships. The same ideas mentioned in this video. We even spent a lot of time on the buoyancy gas compression problem. Back then, we were looking at competitors such as the SkyCat (which is still to this day, "proposed"). It's interesting to see, in 2023, how the revival of airships is still in the planning stages. Even more interesting when you consider that they did have their heyday once. So it's not like it's a purely theoretical idea.

This made me excited for the future. I hope even if they can't make giant cargo airships yet, they can manage smaller ones, which can then teach how to scale up through practice.

A possible solution for the weight-lift problem: When the airship drops off the cargo, it picks up standardized blocks of concrete (or rock or metal) that, say, weigh 5000 pounds each. Then, when the airship picks up cargo at a different stop, it drops off those blocks for the next airship to pick up. Edit: Derek stated my exact idea right after I finished making this comment

Man I don't know about the actual viability of airships, but it just seems so cool to me to be like on the crew of an airship. I don't know why but the idea just excites me so much. It kinda makes me wonder if this is how people felt when air travel was entirely new, it just seems like a new frontier.

I'd love to explore the challenges to anchoring the airship and pulling it down as opposed to trying to constantly push it down with propellers.

This was absolutely perfect. I was able to design and visualize the creature i was trying make for the longest time. Now i just need to learn to draw it with sense

14:00 By definition, when you have lowered the load, you have a stable connection between the ground and the airship. Why not attach the tethers you used for the load to anchor points on the ground, then stabilise the lift of the airship at your leisure - whether by venting or even attaching another payload.- before departing.

One thing I always thought airships could be used for was SAR operations in regions where people get lost during normal weather, the thing can loiter over their last known location and send out camera drones to increase its effective search area, and if they’re conscious enough to signal, it’s impossible to not notice the massive dirigible in the sky and know where to direct their signal.

I've been following for some time the rise and fall (literally) of Airlander - the UKs most recent attempt to get airships up and running again - and it isn't as easy as it sounds. The use of helium rather than hydrogen means it's not as efficient as the old pre war airships and even modern designs still limit their efficiency. More importantly, as you noted, helium is in short supply and I don't see how you'd source that limited supply without the unexpected demand dramatically increasing the price. Airlander has decided to focus on a very exclusive market to try and claw back the millions that investors (including Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson) have made over the years. And as someone who used to have blimps fly over my head as a child (I lived near the Cardington Sheds) they struggle in even light winds. As a regular and reliable means of transporting large quantities of cargo over vast distances - especially as the climate becomes even more aggressive - I just can't see it happening. Btw: Those great big 'sheds' seen in the Airlander video are in Cardington, housed the original R100/R101 series and was briefly the home of the Airlander. They're expensive to maintain and are now owned by Warner Brothers - I believe that one even appears in the background at the start of The Dark Knight Rises.

I would kill for airships to become a way of holiday. Imagine spending two weeks flying over the Australian Outback, watching the sunset over the red desert from up high in the sky. It would be amazing!

I might be wrong but i believe compressing at a slower rate the gases needed for lift is possible with a simple (ish) trick that is actually used by ships already, an anchor, basically you take the load to wherever you need to, anchor and then compress the gas at a somewhat slower rate but currently possible, and just un-anchor once you have the lift stable. And in-before comment saying that anchors cant hold that much weight... let me remind you they are used for cargo ships in the ocean which are WAY more heavy

HELL YEAH! I LOVE the idea of big ol' blimps floating all over the place. Also think of how fun it would be to drive verses a truck