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Wakaranai writes:
"BBC News has a video report that a UK company, Hybrid Air Vehicles, is developing helium-filled hybrid airships for passengers and cargo.
The first prototype was 91 m long, and was built for the US Army. However, the military project was scrapped due to budget cuts, and the airship was returned to the UK. A larger vehicle is on the drawing board.
One of the companies shareholders is... err.. Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden!"
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< nobse> bleh... last night I had a dream... someone NMU'ed vim...
nightmare
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(Score: 2) by evilviper on Saturday March 01 2014, @05:18PM
The cargo they're carrying on every trip is going to be worth many times more money than they'd earn in their lifetime (assuming a small crew). Financial concerns will ensure work goes into making the ship reliable and survivable.
The issue of flammable gas in the balloon is just one of psychology. A huge fire looks bad and scary, and the Hindenburg disaster is burned into everyone's minds. But even with a huge fire and no safety measures, most people survived the Hindenburg, and quite a few people died in helium-filled airships. Even WWI British pilots had a hell of a difficult time shooting down hydrogen-filled zeppelins that were bombing their cities.
Heck, the low air-speed should make it far easier to bail-out of a failing airship than any other aircraft, so accident survival is likely quite high.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.