

Ask HN: Where are the Zeppelins?  - tenpoundhammer

 It seems like a highly efficient way to transport people and goods. At this point in my life, I had hoped to the see the sky filled with them. I'm just disappointed in society for not coming through on this one.
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totalforge
The business model of selling rides, which the Zeppelin company operates in
Europe, didn't work out for recent startup Airship Ventures, even though there
are more good weather days for flying in California.

Unfortunately, the bad economy, combined with the price of helium rising 10x
in the last few years, eroded the business model to the point where they could
no longer operate. Afaik their ship was disassembled and shipped back to
Germany.

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JoeAltmaier
Airships have the potential to carry Heavier loads, since there is essentially
no limit to the size (no road/tire/landscape issues) - the gas bag can be
built as big as you can conceive.

They can fly high above weather and be immune to local conditions - until they
have to dock. Then even a moderate wind can delay/prevent landing and taking
off.

SO the blocking problem is, you can't schedule Zeppelin service reliably. And
in this day of FedEx/overnight/guaranteed delivery, the Zeppelin can't even
get in the game.

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brudgers
Airships are slow and have a small payload. Thus, ships and rail on one end
and jets and trucks on the other.

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retroafroman
This is correct, to add, a reason why they are slow is the large frontal cross
sectional area which means terrible aerodynamics.

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runjake
The Hindenburg accident happened and fixed-wing aircraft were a better
solution for most scenarios.

I think that even though airships are using safer gases these days, the images
of the Hidenburg plummeting to the ground still sit in people's minds.

By the way, for those interested in figures, this is the state of the art in
regards to airships:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT>

