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.