At least, that’s what it looks like from the front. From behind, it looks like a hotdog in a bun.
The first Mongrels story- GOD Hunt- started with a wingsuit dive from a blimp. As written, it was a vertical airship, which is an interesting variation on the traditional airship design. An Airlander inspired wing would have been even better.
Greater Manchester Police had a blimp they used for surveillance. Sadly it didn’t work so well in bad weather, so now all the equipment has been scrapped or repurposed. I wish I’d known about it whilst they were still using it.
The report is structured to make us angry at the waste of money, but I can’t help thinking they’re trying too hard. Certainly, GMP lost some money on it, but they managed to recoup some of the blimp’s £80,000 cost when they sold it, and bits of the equipment are still being used. Without the proper figures we don’t know how much money was wasted on the idea, but it may well be less than the £4,400 per flight the M.E.N. claims.
Airship.org was set up in 1987 to promote vertical airships as the future of air transport. Tall airships, they claim, are easier to construct, more efficient load carriers and more nimble in the urban environment than their cigar shaped forebears. The description of them having “interesting aerodynamic characteristics” could be read in a number of ways though.
The Airship.org site has specs for several proposed designs and you can download a model of one of their ships to fly in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
A resurgence in airships has been predicted for years. Maybe if governments could start applying realistic taxes on airlines than super luxury airships would become more viable economically.
Technorati tag: Airship