New High Tech Goodyear Blimp Under Construction

"It's very different in pretty much every way," said Goodyear public relations manager Nancy Ray. "The current air ship will have a semi rigid structure, so you'll have structure inside it that maintains the structure itself, and there will be helium and airbags inside."
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So, it won't be a blimp.
 
flhrci said:
So ,what to call it then?

David
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A Zeppelin! - after all, as the article says, Zeppelin is the actual designer. Hard to believe they are still at it after all these years (just like Dornier is still designing seaplanes).

Dave
 
The Zeppelin NT is really a piece of techonlogy. Amazing the difference in how they operate compared to everything else in the airship business right now (GZ-20/A60/A150/A170). It's like sitting in a business jet, in the front end.
 
Still vulnerable to high wind and violent weather, just like it's predecessors. There are some pretty good reasons why no one's used one of these things in 80 years, and the reasons are still there. Nothing like folks who think they're so smart reinventing the wheel.
 
steingar said:
Still vulnerable to high wind and violent weather, just like it's predecessors. There are some pretty good reasons why no one's used one of these things in 80 years, and the reasons are still there. Nothing like folks who think they're so smart reinventing the wheel.
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How is a zeppelin more vulnerable to winds and violent weather than a blimp ?

Airships have found their niche in aerial advertising and as relatively quiet and stable camera and radar platforms. I believe that the idea of a 'heavy lift airship' to move around bridge spans and ship engines is a pipe-dream, but in the advertising and camera arena, there seems to be some benefit to the rigid airship rather than the blimp.
 
weilke said:
Airships have found their niche in aerial advertising and as relatively quiet and stable camera and radar platforms. I believe that the idea of a 'heavy lift airship' to move around bridge spans and ship engines is a pipe-dream, but in the advertising and camera arena, there seems to be some benefit to the rigid airship rather than the blimp.
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What can a semi-rigid airship (such as the NT) do better than a blimp? How is it better for a camera platform or advertising than a blimp?
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
What can a semi-rigid airship (such as the NT) do better than a blimp? How is it better for a camera platform or advertising than a blimp?
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Tell me !

For some reason the good people at Goodyear, who know something about blimpology, have decided to go with the semi-rigid design for the time being. From what I can gather, the semi-rigid needs less of a ground-crew.
 
weilke said:
Tell me !

For some reason the good people at Goodyear, who know something about blimpology, have decided to go with the semi-rigid design for the time being. From what I can gather, the semi-rigid needs less of a ground-crew.
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The reason they went with the NT is because they didn't have many choices left. What they use now, the GZ-20, is basically a WWII design, one which they no longer own the type certificate to. LockMart does, and I get the feeling that Lockheed didn't want anything to do with more blimps.

As for needing fewer people to operate, yes, it can be operated with fewer. When the only other Zeppelin NT to fly in the US was on tour, they had just as many personnel on the road as a conventional blimp would have.

Now, they could have bought ABC built blimps, but that wouldn't be a sexy, and make for as good as PR.


Don't get me wrong, a Zeppelin NT is an amazing machine, having been in one once. However, it comes with a price, of a bit over 20 million a piece.
 
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