> "it can use nonflammable helium instead of explosive hydrogen as a lifting gas."

Frustrating FUD that's held back Hydrogen lift airships for almost a century, because clickbait scaremongering sells newspapers. What about [1] and [2], Spectrum.IEEE reporting on Hydrogen fuel-cell electric aircraft, or [3] them reporting on a hydrogen fuel cell rescue truck, without mentioning explosions or the Hindenburg.

You know how many people died in the Hindenburg disaster?

36.

And how many survivors?

62.

Yes that's too many. FOURTY TWO THOUSAND people killed by cars EVERY YEAR in the USA[7] held back car development or sales? When was the last time an aeroplane crash killed that many people? It was August 9th - only a month ago - a crash in Brazil killed 66 people[4]. Before that? January 2023 a crash in Nepal killed 72 people. In fact, look how many plane crashes there are[5] - that doesn't leave newspapers scaremongering about airplane travel and regulators banning it. OK, it does, "Horrific Oregon plane crash shows moment aircraft flies into home and EXPLODES as residents evacuate area" a week ago in the Daily Mail[8].

Jet fuel is explosive, explosions are how engines work! A Boeing 737 carries ~20,000 litres or ~5300 gallons of jet fuel, and nobody writes articles about how planes are bad because jet fuel burns.

With today's technology, and all the improvements in airline safety generally - checklists, regulations, mandatory inspections and maintenance, why wouldn't Hydrogen lift airships be similarly safe to airplanes? Look at "List of airship accidents"[6] and ask yourself how many could be made unlikely with today's technology, weather forecasting, and careful design and maintenance procedures? The first 30 years are mostly:

    - crashed
    - fell apart
    - burnt
    - strong winds broke moorings / crashed it / tore it apart
    - exploded

And if you think the fire risk is not safely manageable, have a think about Hydrogen refuelling pumps at every gas station on every town and city street, used by ordinary people not paying much attention, refuelled and maintained by the lowest bidder, into old, maybe poorly maintained, cars and trucks.

[1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/hydrogen-powered-planes-fuel-cells

[2] https://spectrum.ieee.org/stealthy-startup-promises-cheap-ca...

[3] https://spectrum.ieee.org/hydrogen-truck-emergency-rescue

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voepass_Linhas_A%C3%A9reas_Fli...

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incident...

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airship_accidents

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...

[8] I'm not linking to the Daily Mail. If you're desperate to read it, you'll have to find it.