I think we might be getting past the Airlander Disaster.

Hello again friends. It's been a long time since I've started having a positive outlook on Airships and Aviation. When Airlander crashed for the second time I felt like that was the end, nobody would invest. But the reality of the Airship industry is that it's just been one disaster after another, and that's still not a good enough reason to quit.

Understand reader, we have never developed a true "Airship" as the meaning of the word embodies. Everything that's ever been built in the Airship space is pretty much a prototype for the idea of a True Airship.

We have yet to achieve the dream of Airships. I didn't explain anything that happened in the last Airlander disaster, but to be clear. Nothing was fundamentally wrong with the design of Airlander that led up to it's second crash. What was wrong was the ground handling crew accidentally let the airship get away from them. There was a fail safe that caused the Airship to deflate and that's was what destroyed Airlander 10... nothing but pure incompetence on Hybrid Air Vehicles part.

As such it's important to understand that the Hybrid Airship Design is still fundamentally sound, at lest in theory.

Hybrid Airship overcome a critical flaw of "old world" airships, in that they do not get all of their buoyancy from a lifting gas. This was a critical problem with older Airships that used helium instead of hydrogen, because in order to load and unload cargo they would need to change the ships buoyancy or the ship would become uncontrollable and shoot up into the air like a balloon!

Hybrids are always heavier then Air and as such can never shoot up and away when loading or unloading cargo. Instead they get the rest of their lift from the shape of their haul, just like an airplane.

This makes them a total dream to fly, they're much easier to fly and land then a regular airplane, I even put my mother down in front of the simulator once and she was able to land the Hybrid Airship no problem. It passes the "Your mom can fly this test". Which frankly, being somewhat of an experienced pilot myself (I mean come on guys, I'm Johnny Thunder) I don't think I know of anything else that can pass the "Ur Mom" test currently flying. Maybe ultralights, but it's still pretty easy to kill yourself in an ultralight.

Hybrid Airship on the other hand I'm convinced a total fool can fly and land no problem. Worst thing that can happen is something like the first Airlander 10 crash. It's like flying a Cessna with training wheels!

Another issue with Airships is that they get blown around in the wind a lot. This was part of the reason the Airlander 10 was destroyed. Hybrids have developed a solution, at lest on the ground, to remedy this by using large hoverpads that not only blow air but can suck air as well. These hoverpads allow Hybrid Airships to grab the ground and hold it during loading and unloading operations, in shifting winds.

With all of these issues solved, it seems like we should see Airships flying now.

Well, something interesting has been happening unrelated to Airships that I have been paying close attention to. And that is pretty much everything Elon Musk is doing.

The Man has already achieved the impossible at lest 3 times so far. He's developed orbital class rocket boosters that can land themselves. He's made electric cars popular, and he's even composing his own music. The man is quit literally the most important person alive right now, and he still plans to do the impossible at lest 3 more times before he dies.

There are two very interesting things that Musk has talked about that really are making me have a double take on what is and is not possible.

Recently, Musk has talked about how our understanding of manufacturing is all wrong, no doubt from his experience with Model 3 production hell. While we tend to believe that building a prototype of something is the hard part, it is actually the production line of any new product that is 1000 times harder then building the initial prototype. When Space X started developing Starlink they started by building the factory that would build satellites first, with no initial prototype developed. Musk said this was the right way to go, as now they can produce Starlink satellites faster then they can launch them and cheaper then the launch costs associated with them.

He is now working on, what I'm sure historian's of the future will see as a critical step in humanity development: a Starship.

In the same sense that an Airship has never been a "True Airship", no Rocketship has been a "True Starship".

This is what Musk is building right now.

Myself and many others are watching the development of Musk new super rocket and the rate of production in absolutely stunning. Musk and Space X are able to solve issues in one week that take NASA 6 to 9 months to fix. How are they able to do this, because Starships are just a byproduct of what Musk is really building, and what he is really building is the factory that builds Starships. Working protypes just become a byproduct of the initial work going into this factory, and when one blows up, another takes its place in a little over a week that fixes the problem. Then the solution gets implemented and the line of Starship continue.

This is what is missing in the Airship industry. It's why Hybrid Air Vehicles spent years trying to get their first prototype back from the US government instead of just building a new one. When the simple reality is all that time spent on Airlander 10 was actually a mistake. Everyone in this industry needs to focus on building a production line not a prototype, the prototype must be molded by the limitations of the factory so that everything is produced at low cost and high speed.

Another point that Musk has made the gives us hope. According to Musk, the parachutes that have been developed for Dragon 2 were actually much harder then Musk anticipated. In fact he made a joke that he thought Rocket Sciences was hard but Parachute Science was a whole new can of worms.

In other words, building an Airship is actually harder then building an orbital Rocket, which Musk himself says in 2020 is actually pretty easy. We think this "old" technology of Airships should be pretty easy too because it was first, but in fact Airships are the hardest of all the flying technologies to master, even harder then Rocket Science.

These facts have really given me pause and reflection. With this new knowledge it seems clear why Airships haven't gotten off the ground yet in terms of popularity. This is actually one of the hardest endeavors humanity has undertaken. But the rewards of achieving that first "True Airship" I can feel in in my bones, and I think when the world switched over to Elon's method of thinking, we will see a lot more prototypes becomes production products faster then we ever have seen before.

What Happend to My Old Post

I haven't checked this blog in years, but when I came back I realized wow, my expo-say on the Aviation industry is gone.... not my hand, but it's just gone! Bravo, neo-fascists.  Wouldn't want my testimony as an apprentice airplane mechanic to be used in a court of law by youthful lawstudent who accidentally stumbled on my blog, now would we? Worlds being held together with shoestring as it is.

Well in short, society is almost dead and I saw it first hand as an apprentice airplane mechanic. Why do you think Elon Musk is working as fast as possible to get to Mars, in his estimation I bet we don't even have 30 years left... but... that kinda offers an opportunity for us airship enthusiasts no?

The FAA's over-regulation of general aviation has kept the technology in the stone age, but if society collapses, which with Trump buying the economy on the credit card is all but assured at this point... then maybe Airships will actually prove to be a good solution here on earth in the coming apocalypses...


Heck, if regulations are dead you could just build airships out of old airplane frames and what have you... yeah, it will be a lot safer to just get above all the cannibals that will undoubtedly plague the country side.

Yes, the Elites of the world are already building fallout shelters for when global warming comes and bites us all. The time to do something was in the 70s, but I wasn't even born then, so we are pretty much doomed at this point thanks to pre-war and post-war generations, and you wonder why use millennial s are bitter.

It won't be a Zombie apocalypses, but rather a cannibal apocalypse as world food supplies dry up and the USA becomes a 3rd world nation. Americans won't be able to deal, they will just end up killing the nabers and eating them for food, at lest that's what the elites think, and they are a hell of a lot smarter then then anyone in the "news".

But if you had an Airship, you can just get above it all. Which is probably why Surgay Burns is building one, and Lockheed too. They all know what's coming and they are getting prepared.

If I was no longer limited by what the FAA well then building and Airship might not be a bad idea... one could use 3d printers to build coupling parts, and put it all together like a kit plane. Distribute the content open source on whatever us Linux users build to still talk to each other in the dark age... ah well... I don't need to commit suicide.... society has already made that choice for us... isn't it grand.

Edit: Upon reflection, I realize this post is just an overreaction, maybe I deleted the post myself, although I doubt it. The only truth I know is Brits killed airships again and this is a dead blog.

Why do Airships always crash?

I've been away for some time; The feeling in my Gut tells me Airships are probably never gonna be a thing, but alas the Dream never dies and it's probably better to keep the dream alive then let it wither away. I had a thought which I felt must be expressed here, as to the nature of Airship crashes and why we may be going about this all wrong.

I was thinking about the nature of boats, and how an Airship is more or less a seafaring sky ship. The behavior between the two is unmistakable. They feel the same in almost every way. So why if we can master boats can we not master Airships too. Why do they Keep Crashing!

In my younger years I was a sea fairing lad. Much of my fascination with airships comes from my love of boats. I was in Sea Scouts and we actually did a good amount of sailing in a small ship that had good handling characteristic similar to maybe a smaller hybrid airship.

I think I realize now the missing ingredient, ships sail into a port, Airships are stuck in an endless sea of air and must "Dock" in what would normally be the middle of the ocean for a ship. Having been their myself, I can attest this would be a nauseating task. It can be done, but it requires constant readjusting of mooring lines in order to not cause damage to the ship or dock, and should Never be attempted in anything more then 30knts winds (Well it's the swells that matter, but if the winds are high the swell almost always is as well).

This got me thinking, what do ships do when they cannot dock at port and the weather is a little too much to handle near the coast?

The Answer is, Anchors.

This same methodology could be adapted to airships I believe. I'm thinking probably something magnetic.

With some kind of heavy weight, hook or even maybe an actual boat anchor. Hybrid Airships could use the storm to their advantage, keeping altitude with the increase in relative airspeed, maintaining a fixed position over an airfield or something else. They might even be able to shut the engines down and keep control with control surfaces alone.

Maybe you would have a lift that rides up and down the anchors chain, like a gondola/elevator, that rotates about an axis fixed to the cable-chain, rather then attempt a landing.

And if the airship had to land, it could pull itself down to the ground where it could then be secured.

Actually now that I think about it, It's probably a terrible idea. Airships are not like boats, they are more like submarines.

Oh well...

Airlander 10 to Become Luxury Cruise Ship Test Bed

Airlander 10 is going to be converted to a Cruise Ship... link

This is a bad idea.. I see little success in this market. What if the Ultra Rich gain little from the experience?

In order for this to work, you need to combine gambling with a luxury hotel, otherwise these passengers will quickly lose interest. The only way to make a good profit doing this is by starting with the largest airship you can get. 10 tons is a tight budget to deliver all that in one setup.

Video of May 10th Airlander Flight

The Airlander Returns

Back again, the Airlander 10 has returned to the skies for it's 3rd test flight, this time without any problems.

80 year Anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster.

80 years ago today the end of the Golden Age of Airships came to a crashing end. So much time has come and gone and the world is lesser for it. Still, as the song goes, the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on. And on this day that dream is alive with the fire of the phoenix about to rise from the ashes and be born anew.

We are closer now then ever to a revitalization of the Airship as a viable alternative for air travel and air commerce. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into this sector with analysis predicting billions in growth in the coming years.

Airlander 10 is ready to fly again, Aero's is still hard at work , Sergey Brin is building his secret Airhips, Solarship has contracts to build airships for Africa, and Lockheed is on the verge of showing us it's latest design of a 20 ton hauling sky freighter.

No longer will the limits of the past hold us back, the world is ours for the taking and we will live in a time and age where Airship will rule the sky's once more, proving to the world that we have been missing so much without them.

Let us never forget the brave souls who lost their lives pioneering this technology, but let us also not let the past hold us back. We are living in the future now, were the impossible is ordinary and the unthinkable is practical. Its time to live again in an age were our dreams manifest our reality and our reality feeds the imagination and heals our souls.

It is time to let loose the bonds that hold us to this earth, and break the mental shackles that keep our minds constrained to the mundane, it's time to fly again. Fly like we have never flown before. It's time for the dream to come alive.

Google Co-Founder building a Secret Airship

Well it appears we now are learning why Google decided to rebuild Hanger One at Moffett field. Sergey Brin one of the co-founders of google is allegedly building an Airship. The Why and How of the matter are all secret at this point but it's great to see that some of the big leaders in technology are finally starting to see the potential that Airships have to make the world a better place, and are actively doing something about it!

I can't wait to see what Brin has under raps. From the article, it sounded like they were building something with a variable buoyancy system. Dose this mean that they are perhaps building the next Aeroscraft at Moffett field? Aeros did announce on their facebook that construction of the next Aeroscraft was underway, yet we have heard nothing since then. Could they have made a secret deal with Brin?

Only time will tell.

Airlander Test Flight Imminent.

Airlander has emerged from it's hanger and is preparing for more test flights to come in the next few days. During the repair process the engineers installed extra balloon cushions to insure that when the Airlander comes in for a landing that it will have a much larger allowable angle of decent when approaching the ground.

These cushions are certainly an odd looking solution, but they are functional which is all that really matters at the end of the day. No doubt that when HAV develops the actual production prototype they will come up with a more elegant looking solution.

Whatever the case, lets all wish the Airlander 10 the best of luck and that it will have many hundreds of accident free flight hours ahead of it.

Airlander 10 Accident Details

It appears the problem was in an electrical fault with the generator that powered the winch for the mooring line on the ground equipment, and that the pilot was under the impression that the mooring line was only 1/4 as long as it actually was. This lead to the pilot snagging the mooring line on landing, when the mooring line got loose on a  second go-around as the ground crew replaced the battery in the ground equipment.

It sounds like they have made some redesigns so that if the pilot comes in at a nose low attitude again they will instead hit a cushion, rather then the cockpit, that will lesson the impact on the ship.

Still they added in their own internal report that: HAV identified the need to establish “effective stowage and control arrangements for a deployed mooring line, enhanced maintenance and fault reporting regimes for ground support equipment, and [to perform] a review of relevant static heaviness issues”, the report concludes. Read more here.

Hopefully with a little luck, Airlander will be back in the air soon with a great many hours of error free flying ahead of it.

Amazon Blimp Warehouse

Amazon has patented the idea to use giant flouting warehouses to deliver packages via drone. It's unclear at this time if this is just more patent trolling by a big corporation or if Amazon is actually going to invest resources in the idea.

Personally I feel that Patents have gotten way out of wack. The original intent of patents was to protect inventors ageist big corporations. Now patent laws protect big corporations against inventors. It seems to me that Amazon should need to actually build this Airship before they can be granted a patent on it.

Interview with Stephen MeGlennan CEO of HAV

What I found most interesting in the interview was the idea of using Airships for mobile hot spots. Yet another area of use I had not considered.

Airlander Repaired - Ready to Resume Test Program

Well that took less time then expected, Airlander is now repaired and ready again to fly. This is great news and shows that Airlander is more then capable of putting their ship back in working order in record time.

Hopefully, with a little luck, that will be that last time we hear about Airlander 10 having any kind of crash landing for the next 2 decades or so. And in a small way the crash was actually somewhat beneficial because of how disappointed people are after watching the video (Just look at the dislike ratio.)

No fireball, nobody died, just a genital crunch as the cockpit got swooshed, and now it's all repaired!

What a wonderful demonstration of the safety level that airships can bring to the table.

Solarship Challenges Lockheed to an Airship Race

Solarship has challenged Lockheed to a race covering two of the most expensive flight routs in the world. Obviously this is a publicity stunt to generate interest in Hybrid Airships, and less of a real challenge.

You can't really gauge the winner in the traditional sense as the question isn't necessarily who arrives first, but who arrives at the finish line more efficiently per unit of time then the other. My Gut tells me Lockheed will decline, but there might be value in taking part in this publicity stunt for Lockheed, as they will most likely win and will also demonstrate their airships ability to operate efficiently on harsh trade routs that traditional airplanes struggle with.

Personally I would like to see this, as both companies will benefit, and friendly competition is a lot better then cut throat competition, which I believe was a key factor in sinking Airships success in first Golden Age.

Win or lose both parties would generate a lot of interest in Hybrid Airship technology, and will get a large amount of data to work with on how well their respective airships do when truly tested.

That's something I think investors and enthusiasts want to see.

Quest's Stock Sores after Betting on Airships

Investors seem pleased with Quest Rare Minerals plans of using Airships for Cargo and Transport leading to a stock surge of 49.8%. This should hopefully signal to other companies that Investors are surprisingly bullish on Airships.

Perhaps because of the idea of investing in technologies to combat climate change or perhaps because of the idea in investing in a technology that is truly revolutionary, it seems that these investors are in it for the long haul, looking to make the world a better place with their investments over pure financial benefit.

Hopefully news like this will trigger a cascade effect causing even more R&D into airships and attract even more investors to this market, leading to companies willing to take even bigger risks with even bigger potential rewards.

There is something truly magical about Airships that cannot be measured in purely monetary gain. They are a ship that can fly. That value cannot be measured fully measured in the material sense.

It's something almost spiritual, a type of materialistic enlightenment no different then say how Native Americans refereed to sail ships as clouds on the ocean when they first laid eyes on them hundreds of years ago.

The Technology was so far beyond their comprehension, they could only understand it as some kind of sorcery.

Airships I feel trigger something deep inside us that ignites the imagination. It pours into our souls an idea of hope and wonder that is impossible to measure in money alone.

Although if I had to put a price on it I would gander it's worth about 2 to 3 Trillion dollars alone in the next 50 years, increasing exponentially after that until full market saturation.

What is the price of a child's dreams? If that child grows up to be the next Elon Musk? It's impossible to truly measure, but it's definitely something worth investing in.

I think that's what these investors see.

Lockheed gets Orders from Canadian Mining Company

Lockheed has been tagged by Quest Rare Minerals to build Seven 20-Ton Hybrids for mining operations in northern Canada. The deal is estimated to be worth $850 Million, including fuel.

Clearly the 'if' in the question of if Hybrid Airships will ever by a reality has now been replaced with a 'when'. And by the looks of things, Lockheed is going to be producing hybrids non-stop by 2020.

Hopefully when Hybrids are being used regularly in these niche markets, the perception of Airships will change and many who are unaware of the recent achievements in this industry will start reconsidering their viability in other areas, such as sightseeing, entertainment, flying hotels, shipping, public transportation, etc.

By 2050 Hybrids should be a regular mainstay of our global economy, the Hindenburg will be all but forgotten, and people living in that time will probably have no doubts about their viability or even superiority as an air transport platform.

Airship Market 2016-2020

I have been finding it hard to maintain this blog, what with the election, and a new job, but here is a link to a market forecast to hold you over. Hopefully there will be more news to come soon.

Airlander set to return in 2017

The BBC has an article with some info, none of it necessarily new, on Airlander's repair. The only info that is new is that HAV says they understand what happened leading to the crash, although no details have been shared.

Wired Article on Lockheed's Hybrids

There is an Article on Lockheed's Hybrid Airships.