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Airlander

It's not a pretty looking thing is it?

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It looks like an enormous arse.
 
Airships have always done my head in. It took me years to figure out how they work, and the fact that all that is lighter than air has always been a bit WTF :confused: to me, considering that air seems to weigh fuck all.​
 
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Spymaster said:
Airships have always done my head in. It took me years to figure out how they work and the fact that all that is lighter than air has always been a bit WTF :confused: to me, considering that air seems to weigh fuck all.​
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Airlander isn't lighter than air. I think it's set up to 'weigh' a couple of tons so they can land it without 100 people on the ground. The extra lift comes from the engines being vectored down for take off and the weird shape which is basically a giant wing in crusing flight.
 
Spymaster said:
Airships have always done my head in. It took me years to figure out how they work and the fact that all that is lighter than air has always been a bit WTF :confused: to me, considering that air seems to weigh fuck all.​
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"lighter than air" is a confusing term anyway - "less dense than air" would be more accurate. And if you're not sure about the density of air, stick an arm out of the window when you're next doing 70 in something: what's buffeting your arm is air, pounds and pounds of it.
 
A380 said:
Airlander isn't lighter than air. I think it's set up to 'weigh' a couple of tons so they can land it without 100 people on the ground. The extra lift comes from the engines being vectored down for take off and the weird shape which is basically a giant wing in crusing flight.
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So it can't "hover" without engines?
 
existentialist said:
"lighter than air" is a confusing term anyway - "less dense than air" would be more accurate. And if you're not sure about the density of air, stick an arm out of the window when you're next doing 70 in something: what's buffeting your arm is air, pounds and pounds of it.
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The fact remains, that to "hover" unaided, the airship has to weigh less than the volume of air it displaces.

ETA> (Actually, the same as the volume of air it displaces)
 
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Bahnhof Strasse said:
So what's the point in it then?
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It can land anywhere with no special runway required, but is far more efficient (and safer) than a helicopter of similar capacity. Regular airships can do this too, but they're a nightmare to handle: The wind blows them around, and as soon as you unload their cargo they want to shoot up into the sky. The hybrid design properly "sits" on the ground while being un/loaded and handles better in the wind.
 
Crispy said:
It can land anywhere with no special runway required, but is far more efficient (and safer) than a helicopter of similar capacity. Regular airships can do this too, but they're a nightmare to handle: The wind blows them around, and as soon as you unload their cargo they want to shoot up into the sky. The hybrid design properly "sits" on the ground while being un/loaded and handles better in the wind.
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Ah, that's quite cool then.

Still gonna get an air rifle...
 
Urban marksmen note:
[Airlander] can stay in the same spot for 21 days at a time, and can fly with a lot of bullet holes in it too.[...]

They are hoping to sell it to oil and mining companies to deliver heavy equipment to remote corners of the world. But they are also keen to sell its humanitarian possibilities. [...] [It] could ferry tonnes of supplies to and from any disaster zone, day in and day out.

All you would need is a crew of two and a patch of ground, or water on which to land.
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(from February 2014) World's longest aircraft is unveiled in UK - BBC News
 
Spymaster said:
The fact remains, that to "hover" unaided, the airship has to weigh less than the volume of air it displaces.

ETA> (Actually, the same as the volume of air it displaces)
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Yes. Which it achieves via a huge bladder of gas which weighs less than the air it displaces. I know it's a bit of a headfuck - it's counter-intuitive to our day to day understanding of the world. I think I got my head around it by imagining stuff in water or, conversely, in a hard vacuum.
 
Spymaster said:
It sounds like the big ends are fucked.
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HELLO MATE, DONE YOUR AIRSHIP'S POLLEN FILTERS RIGHT, TWENTY QUID THAT ONE, BUT THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH YOUR ENGINE MATE, YEAAAAH, BLADDY HELICOPTER'S GOT IN THERE AND DONE AAAAAALL KINDS OF DAMAGE HASN'T IT MATE. BAD NEWS GUVNAH. I CAN TAKE IT OFF YOUR HANDS FOR A TON THOUGH, USE IT FOR PARTS, BEST OFFER YOU'LL GET etc
 
mauvais said:
HELLO MATE, DONE YOUR AIRSHIP'S POLLEN FILTERS RIGHT, TWENTY QUID THAT ONE, BUT THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH YOUR ENGINE MATE, YEAAAAH, BLADDY HELICOPTER'S GOT IN THERE AND DONE AAAAAALL KINDS OF DAMAGE HASN'T IT MATE. BAD NEWS GUVNAH. I CAN TAKE IT OFF YOUR HANDS FOR A TON THOUGH, USE IT FOR PARTS, BEST OFFER YOU'LL GET etc
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"It's a common fault with yer Airlander HAV10 isn't it, they all do that. Now your Zeperlin NT that's safe as houses, proper German Airship that is, mind the parts are dear though. "
 
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