Questions tagged [airship]
An airship, or dirigible, is a lighter-than-air powered craft typically using helium, or historically hydrogen, as the lifting gas.
6
votes
1answer
143 views
Why was the Akron’s spy basket installation so remarkably unstable?
A spy basket (also known as a cloud car) is a type of airship appurtenance consisting of a streamlined one-(usually)-person gondola attached to its host airship by a long cable; to use it, the host ...
8
votes
1answer
218 views
Why was the Graf Zeppelin's endurance when fully fuelled with both fuels less than the sum of its endurances with each fuel separately?
The LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin used a unique dual-fuel system, with both a gasoline tank and a set of gas cells filled with blau gas; the airship could be flown using either fuel or both. The purpose of ...
0
votes
0answers
53 views
How much fuel did the N Class Navy blimp carry?
The Navy N Class blimp was powered by 2 Wright R-1300 Cyclone 7 radial engines and was able to cross the Atlantic and back again without refueling. How many gallons of fuel did it carry for a maximum ...
3
votes
4answers
184 views
Does Buoyant Lift Force scale with Load Factor?
Let's say I am flying an airplane that has a weight of 100,000 kg with a 1G load factor at normal steady flight. I have helium lift assist that is providing 50,000 kg (50%) worth of buoyant lift force ...
5
votes
2answers
304 views
Do ballonets control the buoyancy of a Zeppelin NT?
Ballonets are bags of air inside the lifting body of the airship.
I have read about Zeppelin NT, a semi rigid helium filled airship. It uses ballonets to maintain constant over-pressure inside the ...
3
votes
0answers
69 views
What is the ground clearance area required for certification for a blimp/airship that needs to be tethered?
Does anyone know how much ground space needs to be allocated for keeping a blimp/airship tethered? I assume it is likely a circular area with the diameter being (2 x total length) + safety factor.
0
votes
2answers
370 views
Could a blimp maneuver using a sail? [closed]
How do you build a sail for a blimp/hybrid airship and what would it look like? Similar to a sail boat how could a blimp maneuver without propellers? Can a blimp sail against the wind? Wind can travel ...
3
votes
0answers
99 views
What are the airworthiness requirements for transport category hybrid airships?
According to section 1.2 of the Airship Design Criteria (FAA P-8110-2), the FAA limits the applicability of airship airworthiness requirements to aircraft "capable of achieving zero static heaviness ...
25
votes
2answers
4k views
How exactly can an airship lose lift?
On this wiki page (under 'Comparison with heavier-than-air aircraft'), the altitude record of the L-55 Airship states:
The ultimate altitude record for a rigid airship was set in 1917 by the L-55 ...
8
votes
3answers
621 views
Throughout aviation history, what airships were metal clad?
Throughout aviation history, what airships were built with metal skin instead of fabric or other material?
6
votes
1answer
512 views
What was the mass of the Hindenburg?
What was the mass of a fully fueled Hindenburg (discounting any cargo other than fuel/gaz) ?
I do mean to exclude any lift provided by buoyancy.
46
votes
6answers
18k views
Why can't helicopters or Zeppelins drop fire-fighting material on burning buildings?
There have been a number of tragic cases where tall buildings have caught fire for various reasons, and fire-fighters on the ground appear to have been unable to reach the upper stories with fire ...
6
votes
1answer
719 views
What is the quickest way to get an airship rating?
I already have private pilot for single engine land with instrument and commercial ratings.
-1
votes
1answer
201 views
Lighter than Air Rocket [closed]
So I was looking at old airships and a thought crossed my mind. Would a rocket that benefited from being lighter than air travel faster than standard rockets. I know the current designs are pretty ...
4
votes
1answer
3k views
Does any company (or country) still use Zeppelins or airships? Why not?
I just like them a lot when I see'em in movies and I was wondering, are they still being used anywhere? Are there any companies working on them?
If the answer is, as I expect, "Nope", I have to ask ...
-1
votes
1answer
243 views
Airship design principles [closed]
Close your eyes for a second, and try to imagine you're designing this new generation Airship.
The above diagram is a simple sketch to bring it to life and make it more realistic.
Key
Blue ...
11
votes
2answers
2k views
What materials are used for the gas bags in hydrogen airships?
I heard that to construct a hydrogen blimp or airship, the gas bag must be coated with aluminium, which got me confused: doesn't it add significantly to the weight? Is aluminium really used, and is ...
1
vote
2answers
352 views
Can balloons be stacked in a climable daisy chain to the edge of space? [closed]
How high can a balloon/s be and still be tethered to the ground?
The most common problem was finding the calmest place on Earth.
The longest balloon chain is 20 km
Pictures below are basic ...
2
votes
0answers
123 views
why don't airships / blimps use frontal stabilizers or thrusters?
Is there any reason why the frontal stabilizers aren't used on blimps or airships to ease maneuverability in i.e. gusty winds? Even the indoor blimps have tail-rotor, not the nose-rotor for rapid yaw ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
Would it be feasible to develop a dirigible-based refueling station for fighter aircraft?
The impossibly bad 2005 film Stealth featured a dirigible-based, mid-air refueling tanker station for the stealth fighters to use.
At first, this seemed like it might have been the singular good ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
How would we calculate the load factor on an aerial vehicle while landing due to sudden gust loads?
In order to design the landing gear (wheels and suspension) of our model Airship, [say "m" kg -expected mass], I wanted to know, is there any way to calculate the loads which might be experienced by ...
3
votes
2answers
936 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a single castor wheel as compared to 2 wheels in an airship?
I am working on a project to create a mid-size airship having a payload of 25kg. I am in a bit of problem regarding choosing the appropriate landing gear design for it.
Which design would be better, ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the difference between an aeroscraft and an airship?
I stumbled across this site when I was searching for info about airships. They have main three products - aerocraft aeroscraft, airship and aerostat. Aerostat is clear for me somehow. But what is the ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Longitudinal stability of airships: How is the critical speed defined?
Airships are unstable in pitch above a certain speed, called the critical speed. What causes the instability, how does it manifest itself for the pilot, and how is the critical speed defined and ...
19
votes
5answers
6k views
Could I build an airship (rigid dirigible) that used a vacuum rather than lifting gas?
There are other questions (c.f. What gas is used in airships to give them buoyancy?) that discuss the use of lifting gasses such as Helium and Hydrogen in airships. Helium is rare and Hydrogen is ...
17
votes
9answers
4k views
Why are airships not more popular?
There is this question but I am hoping for more general answers to why airships are not more commonplace.
The previous question does bring up the cost of production (mainly because of hi-tech fibers ...
1
vote
1answer
672 views
What gas is used in airships to give them buoyancy?
In the 1930s Zeppelins used hydrogen as the lighter-than-air gas to fill the envelope and give the ship buoyancy.
What kind of gas is used today?
Is it still as flammable as the Hydrogen from ...
20
votes
2answers
17k views
How do blimps control altitude?
If you have an airship filled with helium, how can you adjust your altitude? i.e. how do you "go up" or "go down"?
Even staying still would be a challenge: The way I see it, you'll never have ...
