A few days ago I posted a story about a new French company with a plan to build an airship, a story that brought on a feeling of deja vu. As a fan of lighter-than-air flight, I seldom miss a chance to report on a new LTA design — but having been at this reporting gig for about 20 years now, it’s hard not to see the trends. The designs are beautiful, the airships perform, but the market never materializes. The Zeppelin factory in Germany now supplies the Goodyear fleet, but the company that flew their very capable ship for tourist flights in California has folded. Unless you’re at a football game or a parade, or at Oshkosh, you’re unlikely to ever see an airship in the sky, which is kind of a shame.
The French folks say the 500-foot-long airship they plan to build will be able to harvest wood from virgin forests where there are no roads, using slings to load the cargo without having to land. The company has some notable partners and substantial funding, but they’re a long way from operational. The Airlander company in England has suffered a couple of accidents with their huge airship design, endlessly delaying its entry into service. They’re working on developing a VVIP version that would provide luxury travel in remote and spectacular places — it sounds like an amazing way to explore the world, but it’s a long way from implementation. Rumors say some tech billionaire is building a giant airship inside one of the vintage hangars at Moffett Field, near San Francisco, but if it’s true, we haven’t seen it.
We’ve had the technology for a long time, and these startup companies seem able to find substantial financial backing, yet we still can’t book an aerial LTA cruise anywhere in the world. When Airship Ventures launched their sightseeing flights in California, I was hopeful they would make a go of it. I got to fly with them, and it was just as you’d imagine … low and slow above the California coast, with the windows open, free to move around the cabin … every flight was spectacular. But despite a great crew, a high-tech aircraft and world-class scenery, they never really caught on. If you happen to be in Friedrichshafen, Germany, you can book a flight in a Zeppelin, for up to two hours, but that’s about it.
Over the years, I’ve seen lots of proposals for airships that would fly around the world, or across the Atlantic, or hover low above coral reefs with glass-bottom cabins, or provide luxury travel in remote and spectacular places. The technology seems up to the task, yet these ventures never materialize. Are people really still afraid to fly LTA, because of the Hindenburg? Could one crash have such a long-term effect? Or maybe folks just want to get there as fast as they can? Yet cruises and trains still manage to attract those niche travelers.
It’s a mystery to me why we don’t have more airships in the world. Still, every new plan and prototype gives me hope. Everyone else may be waiting for their flying car to whisk them everywhere at top speed, but I’m still looking for my aerial equivalent of a sailboat, to travel low and slow above the treetops.
