The word Zeppelin — beyond the success of a certain rock band — the first thing that comes to mind is the Hindenburg disaster, a tragedy that closed the so-called the era of the airships with fire and twisted metal. However, the zeppelin as a vehicle never disappeared, and thanks to its more modern examples, today we can get to know them like never before. Would you like to see a zeppelin from the inside…?
May 6, 1937. The LZ 129 Hindenburg ends up in flames over the sky of New Jersey at 7:25 PM local time, causing the death of 36 people. The cause behind the ignition was never precisely determined (giving rise to all kinds of hypotheses), and the fate of zeppelins as a means of passenger transport was sealed forever.
A month later, the Graf Zeppelin was retired, and all material linked to the German ships came under Luftwaffe control in March 1940, but that is not the end of the story...
Inside a Zeppelin
From a certain point of view, airships filled the void left by zeppelins (Remember: "Zeppelin" = Rigid, "Airship" = Non-rigid), and at the same time enabled multiple advances in their development. One of the most high-profile examples out there is the famous Goodyear Blimp, which began its service more than a century ago.
Today, the company has a fleet of three airships, but one of the most important changes happened in 2014: Thanks to an agreement with Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (yes, they still exist), Goodyear adopted a "semi-rigid" design for its vehicles, which combines internal pressure and a carbon-fiber structure with aluminum. The first video shows us a capture of its interior, taken in 2015 with a GoPro 3+.
Obviously, this configuration makes the zeppelin very light, to the point that it needs a circular field with a minimum diameter of 155 meters to land. Surface wind currents move it without much difficulty, so it must rotate 360 degrees without restrictions or obstacles. The mast and the nose were specially designed to connect to each other and allow the required movement. The ground crew is numerous, and beyond the helium (about 8,500 cubic meters), the zeppelin also needs fuel: 825 kilograms of Avgas (aviation gasoline) distributed among three tanks.
Official Goodyear Blimp website: Click here
