"The 12 passenger prototype is on its way to London, and then crossing the ocean and America to San Francisco."
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/zeppelins-are-back.php
TOO COOL MAN! Thanks for that heads-up. I wish like HELL we had a "Brain" in Jacksonville. SFO is going to get this thing up and running and I'm telling y'all ... there goes the port. We could do it on the EAST COAST but we'll probably wait until Brunswick or Lake City does it then we come up with a Billion dollar plan to be the "world Zeppelin leader".
I love the photos and the article was quite good too. It's what I've been telling you guys for over a year now, watch the skys, because here they come again. Did you know the Graf Zeppelin and the Los Angeles went around the world several times, MILLIONS of passenger miles were logged, including serving dinner while in the midst of a tropical storm (The Graf) No one was EVER hurt on them. The Navy Blimp program as well as the newer smaller cousins also have incredible safety records. Add modern aviation, navigation and computer instruments and they'd be the safest and fastest thing afloat. For those who don't know, the old NLTA BASE AT FRANCIS FIELD is still sitting by Golf World, on the East side of I-95, behind a hotel?
See now you got me started! HA! HA!QuoteAnyone see the history channel program on the real cause of the Hindenburg crash? They used to coat skin of the zeppelin with powdered magnesium paint to reflect sunlight. If the zeppelin gained too much heat the hydrogen would expand, they would have to release some of the gas and then when the zeppelin cooled at night the gas would contract and the zeppelin would be under inflated. The reflective paint reduced solar heat gain but as anyone who's taken a science class knows, magnesium powder is extremely flammable. They said that if it were just a pure hydrogen fire the gas would have escaped straight up and the rest of the zeppelin would have been undamaged. The rolling fire on the skin indicates that the paint and canvas caught fire before the bags were punctured.
Interesting show, Note that it still had to have a source... My best guess is still with the St. Elmo's Fire theory (static electricity that you sometimes see along wire or metalic surfaces after a thunder storm). If you watch the film carefully, it flew all afternoon in a thunder storm, the instant it drops the bow line and it touches the ground it formed a complete circuit. The explosion happened concurrent with that line. ???
I wasn't joking when I said we should invest a little study time in this.
Thanks again.Ocklawaha