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Oh, the humanity!!!!

I've been reading articles here and there for the past couple of years about a resurgence in the technological development and use of dirigibles. Apparently there is a lot of development going on to develop airships using new materials for the 'balloon' part and safer, less flammable gases to fill them.

A trip on the web pulls up a bunch of pages for companies who are building these things. I read about one a few months ago that is literally a football field long. They can lift enormous amounts of weight. I mean, these things sound great to me!!!

Funny thing though. I live in a major city in the Northeastern US. There's a lot of shipping and commerce going on around here and yet, the only place I've EVER seen a dirigible is floating over a baseball game or a parade. It seems like the couple of years that I've been reading about these things would be enough time to actually get some of them up in the air and in use for more industrial applications than advertising, but I've never seen one, or heard anything about infrastructure for them or anything.

Engineering questions/problems aside, these things seem really interesting to me and it seems like with the modern materials and such, we might expect to see one floating around with some shipping containers suspended below them or something. And wouldn't it be an interesting way to travel? I'd much rather take a flight across the US that takes a couple of days and during which I can really see the landscape below, if I've got the time...you know, a vacation rather than a business trip. Personally, I look forward to seeing these things soon.

If anybody reading this has seen any of these new dirigibles being used as something other than a flying billboard, leave a comment.

Comments

Dot Dwyer said…
Though I think it could be a cheap form of transportation, I dread the thought of containers being carried over my home tethered by cables. Not becaus I don't think it could be done but because of the general level of my fellow menial laborers out there.That it is just another opportunity for "Oops ! I guess I forget to attach the thingy. . ."
August 5, 2008 at 11:08 AM
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