This is Britain's Skyliner.
It turns out that the British company World Skycat Ltd has come up with a revolutionized zeppelin that has the combined features of both airships (lighter-than-air helium) and airplanes (the aerodynamic lift). It has many pros. It has low running fuel costs, it can carry literally tons of weight, and it can land in areas that are not easily accessible. The only problem is that these aircrafts cost millions of dollars. Despite this hitch, the U.S. is having the "Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle" built to provide surveillance for the troops over in Afghanistan by the year 2012.
I think this idea is pretty neat, especially if we can perfect the blueprints enough to prevent another Hindenburg. Also, having the ability to land in problem areas could really benefit our troops. Maybe we'll even be able to create smaller versions that can be used for military missions. However, because they are so costly, I do not think that we should make very many of them. What do you all think?
If you want to read the article for yourself, here it is: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/28/hybrid.airship.future.flight/index.html
The Hindenburg explosion was due to the fact that they ran zeppelins using hydrogen, which is highly explosive, back then. Now we use helium, like in balloons, so the worst we have to worry about is squeaky people if something happens. Also, if something like this were to come down, it would come down slowly, and you could still land it.
ReplyDelete