Alaska to get Dibs on Lockheed's first Hybrids

Channel 2 news in Alaska has the story. The first of Straightline's Hybrid Airships will be heading to Alaska, while the rest of the 12 on order will be heading to different parts of the world to test feasibility.

It makes sense to try and get Alaska first, not just because it's an environment that's hard for everything else to work in, but also because Alaska is a sure market with wealthy customers who are willing to pay for the premiums of getting their stuff delivered on time.

Africa and Sybira are higher risk markets and while that will not discourage Airships in the long run, it makes sense from a business prospective to go after markets that are guaranteed to generate income first as to generate funding for higher risk ventures.

Africa is a market that badly needs airships, but the possibility of making a return on investment are very low at the start. Only after trade routs are established and after markets develop that are unaffected by the non-stop civil wars, Evil governments and lack of roads, then we will see a lot of money being made by Airships in Africa, probably more money then anywhere else really.

But in order for Straightline to penetrate that market, they need to have the capital to invest in the initial program that will definitely be running cargo at a loss to begin with. To support that endeavor they need money, and that means markets that are sure bets, like Alaska.

The next sure bet market is Canada, so smart money says their 2nd Airship will be heading there.

P.S. Did anyone else cringe when the reporter said "...the new vehicle is called, The Airship." That's kinda like saying to the DMV when they ask "What is your vehicle's make?" you answer "car." Geez reporting has gotten bad in this day and age.

Airlander 10 Crash is a Viral Video.

The Video posted by Lee Cordell has been a viral success standing in at 5,934,284 views as of writing. Other youtubers have been re-uploading in order to get free views and make money off the accident.

Interesting thing to note is that the dislike ratio is about 1 like for every 2 dislikes.

People were expecting to see the fiery explosion like with the Hindenburg, and then they dislike the video because the Crash wasn't spectacular enough for their frankly sub-mammalian instinct of wanting to see people die or stuff explode.

When we consider that this video is now the 3rd most viewed video on youtube when you search "Airships", behind two Flash videos; And we also consider that the first informative video is by James May who is more popular then Airships are in general and he's way past a bunch of minecraft videos...

Then we can be fairly certain that a lot of people who have never even heard of the Airlander or Hybrid Airships are seeing it for the first time.

And while it is an embarrassment for the industry as a whole that the AIrlander 10 crashed on it's second test flight, most people don't know that.

And there is a bright side...

A huge amount of people, frankly a lot of self absorbed people with too much TMZ on the brain, who don't care about world events or life saving technology, have just associated Airlanders/Hybrid Airships in their minds with boring crashes...

Think about that.

That might actually be one of the best things ever for the Airship industry. It's a reverse Hindenburg. This could actually be the biggest blessing in disguise for the Airship industry as a whole.

My current theory is that it was pilot error that caused the crash, if so, I'm certain they will never make the same mistake again.

Playing around in my Sky Tug in X-plane I remember actually killing the pilot one time doing a very similar maneuver, hitting the ground gondola first like in the video. In my limited experience it's a one timer, you make that mistake once, you never make it again (assuming you survive, and thankfully the test pilots did.)

But in a lot of ways, had the crash of the Airlander 10 not have been as bad as it was it would have never "qualified" as a crash. Leading to people clicking on it because they want to see a train wreak. On top of this they all come away disappointed and upset they didn't get to see anyone die or stuff explode.

Some of the top comments read:

"The most gentle crash humanity has seen" -Gyrolox 915 likes

another read:

"Oh my god!

That crash was so slow! Do you think someone might have spilled their coffee?" -Kunzite Universe 1112 likes

Comments like this are gonna leave a lasting impression in peoples minds, especially when we consider how early we are in the development of Hybrid Airships as a viable industry.

It may just be that what this industry needed most was a crash like this, at this moment. The Hindenburg set in stone in peoples minds Airships Crashes = Massive explosion, huge death, unsafe. This has set in peoples minds Hybrid Airship Crashes = Boring, nobody dies, super safe.

That's exactly what we want people to think.