World's longest aircraft takes disaster relief to new heights | Hacker News Reader

World's longest aircraft takes disaster relief to new heights

reuters.com

31 pointstestrun15 comments

Watched the video, don't think they mentioned it... any idea how fast it is? They said it can fly for up to 5 days, but without knowing cruising speed it's hard to say how useful it could be for moving people and cargo around when there's other options.

Airships typically range from around 60 - 130 mph airspeed, with the latter being attained by some newer and very aerodynamic models.

Looks as if the Airlander's good for about 100 mph from this:

http://www.infotales.com/airlander-the-largest-airship-in-th...

So best-case scenario it can go 2400 miles, assuming it can refuel on arrival. While it could hop and be managed at any local field with a fuel dump, I do wonder how well it can handle the elements if kept outside at a stretch. Crossing the Atlantic would be tricky, for example.

So while "disaster relief" is a good use for this thing, rapid response is not. It's in for the long haul - you set up in a neighboring city and use it to ferry goods back and forth. But by the time it arrives, the existing disaster-relief structure may have more conventional approaches to shipping in goods/personnel (rail/train/ships/runways)

... this thing really seems to be a solution looking for a problem. If the technology could be made cheap, I could see the worth of a low fuel-to-weight ratio for air-freight in servicing remote areas (places above the arctic circle come to mind) but that's a mass-produced fleet of flying trucks, not a lone relief ship.

I see the major advantage in being shuttling between a field (or port) in which conventional transport can be utilized, and a specific disaster locale in where you cannot land a 747, C130, or dock a PANAMAX ship. Utilize those for the long-haul, then use the airship to shuttle between your full-service port and the specific locations which are cut off.

When you're talking about the difference between getting supplies to a region that's cut off from the rest of the world, even a 10km or 100km haul can be hugely useful, and the airship can cover that distance in 6 - 60 minutes.

so a product looking for a use?

I would not want to see this in bad weather, either strong thunderstorms or winter conditions. Having seen so many proposals time and time again I am still trying to figure out what need they latched onto? It changes each time, disaster relief just sounds better. The issue there is, how long would it take to get to a disaster area? Staying time isn't the issue.

They designed and built this for a contract for the US Army.

The US Army cancelled the contract last year.

So why won't they go the same way as Cargolifter?

Well, they already seem to have a hangar and a big airship, which means they won't have to make massive initial investments like Cargolifter which instantly puts them in better position. Cargolifter built a massive hangar from scratch and didn't even get around to big ships before running out of money.

Uh, does anyone have a transcript? My netbook is too slow to load that monster of a website.

I'm not sure I understand, how is this different from an airship? Does someone know?

What do you mean? It _is_ an airship. Just a big one.

That phrase really rankled me as well. It's the sort of crap that makes me question the veracity of the entire article, as well as the intelligence of the reporter / press-release copyist.

How does it perform in bad weather?

Remember Cargolifter? Afair one of the biggest technical problems they had was landing the blimps in bad weather.

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