
The airship finally takes off - Hybrid Air Vehicles has first civil customer - ColinWright
http://www.gizmag.com/hybrid-air-vehicles-airship/19746/
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brianbreslin
Interesting to note that the first customer is going to use it to supply
remote regions of the frozen north (think Ice Road Truckers). I wonder how
these vehicles will perform in sub-freezing weather. Will the helium compress?
Liquify? Lose some of their lift? If so, this could prove to be a huge boon to
supplying building material and other resources to isolated places that can't
support airstrips for instance

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euroclydon
I'd be more concerned with how they perform in high winds. Unlike conventional
aircraft that use massive propulsion to cut through the air as quickly as
possible, these vehicles are designed to just hang out in the air.

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billswift
From what I read about airships' use in the 1920s, high winds aren't a serious
problem, but unexpected storms can be, because they can't maneuver out of the
storm's path as well as a heavier-than-air craft. Most of the US Navy's
airships were lost to relatively small, local storms if I am remembering
correctly. Which would be a plus for high latitude use, since their are fewer
storms there.

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tsotha
The US airships were overly susceptible to bad weather because they were based
on a wartime German design in which airworthiness had been sacrificed for
altitude.

From here: <http://sped2work.tripod.com/zeppelins.html>

"Unknown to the French and American engineers at the time the height climbers
were made from thinner gauge material and, except for the machine guns,
stripped of armaments and even one engine. They did not realize they were
being specially built in response to mounting losses and were super risky to
fly, being very much on the edge of sound structural rigidity. The Americans
copied the L-49 almost exactly not knowing how close the Germans had pushed
the boundaries of minimal structures and a major reason she, the Shenandoah,
broke up in bad weather."

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ender7
The feasibility of a giant, easily hit target that is vulnerable to almost all
forms of attack makes its use as a military vehicle a little questionable to
me.

Obvious civilian uses, though.

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DanI-S
The gas inside airships is at extremely low pressure so, whilst a large
target, they're actually not as vulnerable as one might think.

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tsotha
This is a good point. In WW I there was an AA shell that went off _inside_ a
German airship, and the ship was able to land safely. They really are quite
resistant to damage.

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dkokelley
I've wondered about smaller LTA vehicles being used in tactical situations
where rotor-blades would prove impractical. Could a sufficiently nimble LTA
vehicle make skyscraper or mountain rescues by navigating laterally to the
rescue point? I helicopter will almost always need to have a vertical approach
and rescue path because of the large rotors, but an LTA would not be
restricted in that way.

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alnayyir
It'd get blown around by the wind in the mountains too much to be practical.
Most LTA aircraft usually pick a general direction and "head that way", their
ability to remain in a single position is limited because it would require a
large number of jet powered thrusters mounted at various locations in order
for it to be able to fight the wind and hold still.

I don't envy the programmer that has to code the heuristics to keep a zeppelin
still in the presence of 60 mph winds.

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starik36
All photos are renderings. I'll believe it when I see it.

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pacaro
It's certainly annoying and odd that their press pack doesn't include real
photographs, but there is a video of one taking off, flying, and landing on
<http://hybridairvehicles.com/>

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georgieporgie
I'm guessing the surveillance applications are particularly appealing to the
military. How long could a drone version stay aloft at high altitude, out of
range of common weaponry?

