h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Airships are too slow (compared to jet aircraft) for passenger service over long distance, but they would be terrific for freight. Just imagine, carrying a whole shipload of cargo across the Atlantic Ocean in just three days. I don't know why nobody has thought of this.

I think I remember seeing a TV program where a British company were putting this idea forward. Surprised the Zeppelin company in Germany haven't latched onto it.

I've been told that this is an unsuitable use, because of the possibility of dropping the load on unsuspecting folk below, but I don't think I buy it. Also, they could be used like cruise liners, rather than simple passenger ferries like aeroplanes.

Well, we shouldn't fly so many plans, either, since they could crash into the unsuspecting folk below.

I don't see why a modern airship would be too slow for passenger service. An airship could easily get to New York from London in a day, and if the scale were sufficient, the passengers could be carried in relative comfort, if not luxury. I know what I would prefer - spending 24 hours being able to walk about, sitting in a comfortable lounge looking out of the picture windows, and then strolling down to the bar before going to bed - or sitting in cramped seats in a metal tube, being bounced around by turbulence and eating unpleasant food. Where can I buy my ticket?

The zeppelin, with its efficiency and potential luxury makes for much more comfortable travel. While the zeppelin would most likely be slower than comparable airplanes, for the modern international business traveler perhaps the time spent traveling isn't as great a problem as the time spent without access to internet, news, cellphone communications, etc. The greater flexibility in passenger accomadations available to the designers of a commercial zeppelin would allow them to avoid many of these difficulties. Considering the difficulties that airlines (At least American ones, I have no other perspectice available) are currently facing, perhaps the time is right for some of these to take root.

Additionally, think about the major discrepancies between the vulnerability airplanes have to terrorist attack as compared to zeppelins. A broken plane falls from the sky, a broken zeppelin will most likely just float about. Also, the prospect of a zeppelin hitting a building is not nearly as great a concern.

There was an article in the Washington Post that said that a punctured Zeppelin using helium will just sputter to the ground rather slowly like a puctured baloon. Cause that's what it is.

And the designer would be summarily executed for not segmenting the envelope. If the dirigible is hovering over the ocean, you've a disaster. Even on land, the damage from a crash landing (no matter how slow it is, it's not the same as complete control, and there will probably be some damage), the delays, the refunded tickets, and the bad publicity would damage the company.