Underwood speaks: If only the Navy had returned

[Radio Talk Show Host]

Something is going on. I find it a weird coincidence that suddenly the Navy is insisting that the houses around the other small Navy airfield suddenly need to comply with standards. My guess and I hope I AM WRONG is that the Navy will bring considerably more flights down here with more noise. Then the Navy will have the option of asking Jacksonville if we want the jobs and the noise OR if we just want the noise 

[thelakelander]

Wasn't it well known that the Navy was still going to use Whitehouse?  I remember them saying that the super hornets would use Whitehouse regardless of it Cecil were converted back into a base or not.  We won't be getting the jobs, but we'll still get some noise.

[Ocklawaha]

Don't sweat it man, the zeppelins will be quieter.

Ocklawaha

[DetroitInJAX]

Sounds like someone's off their pills again.

[Ocklawaha]

NOT INTENDED TO HIJACK THE THREAD... JUST FYI...

I still think we could pull the Navy back with the right choice of location, just refocus our/their efforts close to home.

off their pills again

"OFF" wouldn't have been my choice of words...hee hee!

FROM SAN FRANCISCO: CNN: This fall, if our San Francisco Bay Area readers spot a zeppelin overhead, don’t worry â€" you haven’t been caught in a time warp. It will just mean that a startup called Airship Ventures has succeeded in bringing the zeppelin (an icon of 1930s aviation) back to the United States. The company just raised $8 million in a first round of funding.

Specifically, Airship Ventures plans to offer zeppelin rides out of Moffett Field. If the company follows through on its plans, it will bring the first zeppelin to Moffett Field since 1947. In a few months, Airship will operate a single Zeppelin NT based in Moffett’s Hangar 2, which was built by the Navy to house zeppelins in 1942.

The funding will allow Airship to actually complete the purchase of its first vehicle. Apparently, at 246 feet in length, the Zeppelin NT will be 50 feet longer than the largest blimp, and will hold up to 12 passengers. Similar airships are already operating safely in Japan and Germany, the company says.

Airship will offer its rides for “flightseeing” tours (yes, that’s what they call them), as well as media and science operations. Apparently, flights will be available for between $250 and $500, around the same price as a ride in a hot balloon.

The funding comes from six individuals, including noted tech commentator Esther Dyson. On her blog, Dyson praised the company a year ago as “an absolutely fantastic idea, both in the positive sense and as in ‘pure fantasy’.”

Airship is led by the wife-and-husband team of Alexandra and Brian Hall. Alexandra Hall was previously the head of the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, Calif.

Crazy? Yeah, with fuel headed to $8.00 a gallon (equal to the current price in the EU) you better believe the fly boys are looking for savings. At an airspeed of 125 Kts or a land speed of closer to 200-300 mph, with modern instruments, and Harrier Jump Jet directional thrusters. The new Zeppelins are the test bed for the great ships to return. Did you know BTW that 2/3 of the passengers and crew of the Hindenberg walked/ran away from the crash unhurt? TRUE. (Try that with a 757 from 35,000 feet....SPLAT!) Also the new Zeppelins are being considered for cargo (small high priority stuff). Fuel burn for a 42 hour trans-Atlantic flight? About the same amount as a Jet at JIA burns going from the gate to the end of the runway.

Crazy like a fox.

Ocklawaha