Blimp Update
If you didn’t read my first entry on Blimps, read it here. Moving on: As I had another picture of a Zeppelin over NYC, I felt I could update you a little more on the subject.
Blimps are used a lot to cover sporting events - it is from these you get the nice overview pictures when watching SuperBowl (American Football), Tennis, Baseball etc. According to TimeOut NY, the captain of the FujiFilm Blimp, which is featured in my earlier entry, prefers to cover NASCAR races (car racing), because it is easier to follow from the blimp than tennis - no wonder.
Also, when the Empire State Building was built, it was actually prepared to receive passenger travel via Zeppelins, but, as we all know, airship traffic has never commercialized. Maybe because a blimp can only carry around 11 passengers; and it takes several days to cross the US in a blimp - at huge costs compared to other means of transportation.
Returning to the FujiFilm Blimp, I read in TimeOut NY that the “balloon”, or envelope as it is called, on the Fuji Blimp is only as thick as a shirt collar! Also, the same place, it said, that the gondola is made up of a material called Kevlar. This material is supposed to be stronger and lighter than steel. Wow.
October 7th, 2004 at 11:21 am
Bjørn, det er jo en gammel hat, at Empire State Building skulle kunne modtage passagerer fra Zeppelinere, men det er altså forkert, at Luftskibstrafikken aldrig blev “commercialized”, tænk bare på “Hindenburg”, fra tyverne og specielt i 1930´erne var der en “stor” trafik med Zeppelin over Atlanten, den hurtigste forbindelse fra Europa til Amerika dengang og meget luksuspræget. Rejserne startede som regel i Berlin Tempelhof of gik til New York (eller New Jersey), De store tyske luftskibe, der også var prestigeprojektor kunne i henhold til luksus sagtens konkurrere med luksusskibene, passagertallet kunne ligge mellem 50 og 100 personer, det var ganske meget. Den amerikanske regering benyttede i udpræget grad ligeledes den tyske luftskibsteknink, særlig indenfor militæret. Det hele fik en ende med uheldet med Hindenburg og flymaskinernes stadig forbedrede teknik.