Comment on Anon wants to ride a zeppelin
echodot@feddit.uk 1 month ago
This is what happens when your view of history is essentially the historical equivalent of pop culture. You end up saying idiot things on an idiot website for idiots.
Lots of people died in airships the Hindenburg was the most exploding dramatic but it was not the first and only instance.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
But also the technology to make rigid airships relatively safe has existed for decades and there’s no reason we can’t go back to them now except bad PR.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 month ago
And the fact that they’re only so so. Like, airplanes are just better. Once we had the ability to make cargo planes it was over
freebee@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Better in many regards but for sure not all. Airships could run a lot more quietly for example, that has some value. Until they explode ofcourse, that’s rather loud.
Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 1 month ago
It’s just a very ineffective mode of transport compared to aeroplane or helicopter, not because the technology isn’t there.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Cruise ships are wildly impractical for getting from point A to B as well. There can be other reasons to do a thing besides efficiency
Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 1 month ago
Counterpoint: Cruise ship is the best way to get from point A to point B for long distance sea travel. Though cruise ship nowadays aren’t all about going to point A to point B, it’s been replaced by aeroplane, but it’s well and alive because it’s the one proven tech that’s been used for centuries, if not millennia.
Airship however relies on two of the lifting gas: helium and hydrogen. Helium is expensive, scarce, and non-renewable, while hydrogen is the sole reason why airship is not a popular air travel. All that to just lift about 100 people or 10 tonnes of payload for something this big. Sure, you can ride it but it will be expensive.
echodot@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Cruise ships are based on practical technology though. If the only use for cruise ships was leisure then it wouldn’t be economic to develop them. Airship technology never really got anywhere and it’s certainly never became commercially used, so putting in the money to develop it for recreation just doesn’t make sense.
echodot@feddit.uk 1 month ago
They would still have to contain hydrogen though. Making them rigid doesn’t decrease fire risk.
They have bad PR for a reason. It’s not prejudice it’s practicality.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
They can be made with helium
stom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
In theory, but not in reality. It’s just far too expensive.