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Comment by aldoushuxley001 | Hacker News Reader

Can we still call them Zeppelin's tho? This is literally a childhood dream of mine coming true. Amazing.

It's different from a zeppelin in a couple ways. First, its not totally rigid (it relies on pressure to keep it's shape), and it is negatively buoyant in the atmosphere (it relies partially on lift generated by the shape of the aircraft to stay up).

A heavier-than-air dirigible? As Keith Moon once said about the New Yardbirds, that'll probably go over like a lead zeppelin.

Re: negatively buoyant, that might not be true. Their FAQ states:

> Being Lighter-Than-Air, the characteristics of the Airlander bring many safety benefits. It has four engines and can fly on just one. Even if all engines fail, which is extremely unlikely, it can still float or glide under pilot control.

Little more detail:

> As a unique part of the design, 60% of the lift is produced aerostatically by being Lighter-Than-Air and a further 40% lift is generated aerodynamically by having a wing-shaped hull. The engines can be rotated to provide an additional 25% of thrust up or down, to help landing, take-off and hover.

It may technically be "lighter than air" when only considering the dry mass (I'm not sure about that), but they're definitely relying on aerodynamic lift in normal usage (so, it will glide in the same way a heavier than air plane can glide)

And I believe zeppelin is still trademarked and still exists as a company in germany.

I've always been partial to "dirigible".

I have very little difficulty with English, but this word is hard to pronounce in English for me. The funny thing is that it's very easy for me to pronounce in other languages, including my native language.

Apparently "not a true zeppelin because it lacks a completely rigid frame." A prior cnet article has better photos https://www.cnet.com/news/airlander-10-airship-interiors-inf...

Why is this an important distinction though? Zeppelins still need to be full anyway in order to float, so why does it matter that they keep their shape when not full?

All Zeppelins are airships but not all airships are zeppelins. Iirc the term ”Zeppelin” is used for rigid-frame airships only. The term usually used for non-rigid ships is ”blimp”.

So aside from the fact that this is a hybrid that needs power to lift, it’s also a Blimp rather than a Zeppelin.

Is your dream flying In a Zeppelin? You could do that In Germany

A company was operating sightseeing tours in Zepellin NT crafts in California between 2008 and 2012…

I remember seeing them go overhead once in a while. I hadn’t realized they ceased operations. Just a couple of days ago I saw a blimp overhead, I thought it was them, but it must have been the Goodyear blimp moving between football games. I believe Goodyear uses Moffet Field as a staging stop on occasion.

Goodyear bought 1 or 2 Zeppelin NT to replace their aging blimps.

Edit: All their „blimps“ are Zeppelin NT now https://www.goodyearblimp.com/behind-the-scenes/current-blim... and they manufactured them by themselves with parts and know how from Germany.

> they manufactured them by themselves with parts and know how from Germany.

They assembled the zeppelins in germany. Because it's pretty certainly simpler to ship the parts and a few engineers than to make the trip in assembled blimps.

Ah yes, Airship Ventures. [1]

I got to ride on one of their last Bay Area flights. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. See [2] for photos. The lake with houses around it is Larry Ellison's home.

Passenger boarding was interesting. The zeppelin is hovering when you board, so they don't have everyone get off before the new passengers get on. The zeppelin would float away! Instead, they swap passengers one by one to keep the weight stable.

Once on board, the passengers are in the same cabin with the pilots, so we could talk with the pilots, see how they fly the airship, and ask for little sightseeing detours along the way.

Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei still operates tours in southern Germany. [3] If you ever get a chance to ride on one, do it!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship_Ventures

[2] https://geary.smugmug.com/Flying/Airship-Ride/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Zeppelin_Reederei

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH might grumble.

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