With more and more attention focussed on our lust for fossil fuels,
exciting innovations have allowed us to revisit some early 20th
Century technology – the mighty airship.
While the disastrous Hindenberg explosion of 1937 effectively
ended the glorious reign of the German zeppelins, the latest
technology airships use inert helium and exotic material airframes
to stay aloft. The modern hull shape is even designed to provide
aerodynamic lift to the aircraft.
Now while designers are pre-occupied with massive craft to carry
freight and mining equipment, the positive offshoot of this
promising technology is the revival of that most romantic of luxury
air travel, the passenger airship.
There is no debate about the massive resurgence in ocean
cruising, so it follows that the slow travel formula can just as easily
be applied to the air.
One alluring project is the so-called ‘Manned Cloud”, a flying
boutique hotel proposed by Frenchman, Jean-Marie Massaud.
Environmentally friendly, ultra-luxurious and styled to resemble
an airborne whale, it is the equivalent of a luxury private yacht
carrying 40 passengers at a speed of 130kmh. It will travel 5000 km
(Sydney – Perth) in just 72 hours.
In 1927, the only round-the-world zeppelin flight was completed
with Australian adventurer, Sir Hubert Wilkins aboard. The same
airship, LZ127, made 144 ocean crossings carrying 13,110
passengers with a perfect passenger safety record.
It seems reasonable that such a feat could easily be replicated with
the significantly enhanced technology available today.
One obstacle then as it is now is the cost. A one-way ticket across
the Atlantic on Hindenberg in 1936 cost $400 – roughly $6000 today
– for the 3-day journey.
Prices would certainly be similar today, but remember some of the
best boutique ships
are already charging
over $1000/day.
On a more cruise
ship-like scale is the
Aeroscraft, a 200m
long behemoth
capable of carrying
250 guests from Sydney to Singapore at 280kmh in hotel comfort.
The beauty of the Aeroscraft is that, as a vertical-takeoff-andlanding
(VTOL) craft, it requires no runway. “You can land on the
snow or you can land on the water,” says designer Igor Pasternak.
“It’s a new vision of what can be done in the air.”
Unlike its dirigible ancestors, the Aeroscraft is not lighter than air.
Its 400,000 cubic metres of helium only hoist two-thirds of the
craft’s weight. The rigid and surprisingly aerodynamic body-driven
by huge aft propellers generates enough lift to keep the mammoth
airship and its 400 tonne payload aloft while cruising. During
takeoff and landing, six turbofan jet engines assist.
Not surprisingly, cruise companies have expressed an interest in
this concept which is tantalisingly close to realisation, however the
company is likely to gain initial sales from heavy lift cargo and
military applications before any luxury cruising airships appear.
Notwithstanding, the move to more responsible, relaxed travel is
growing and airships consume a fraction of the fuel and produce a
similarly meagre carbon by-product, it is only a matter of time
before these graceful giants reappear above us.
