Comments on: Solar-Powered Plane/Blimp Cargo Hauler (VIDEO)

By: Breath on the Wind

Breath on the Wind — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Lighter than air craft like VTOL craft need little or no runway. The airships are slower but are typically cheaper to operate. Airships tend to not be as good to operate in foul weather. The coast guard may use them to spot drug submarines but are probably not going to attempt to use them for search and rescue in a storm.

By: Karl-Friedrich Lenz

Karl-Friedrich Lenz — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:37:00 +0000

Something like this would have been extremely useful (like avoiding hundreds of billions in evacuation costs) to fly in spare batteries right after the Fukushima accident.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:27:00 +0000

Sure makes sense to me to use something like these craft to move supplies into remote villages rather than flying small fixed wing planes.

By: Breath on the Wind

Breath on the Wind — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:57:00 +0000

This is an interesting concept.

A small point though, all airships (steerable “lighter than air craft”) are actually slightly heavier than air and use their forward momentum to gain additional lift. This prevents needlessly venting of the lifting gas to assist with landings. For a look at a another craft that actually already has commercial contract to build airships for use in Canada’s northern territories see this article: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/09/08/the-power-of-blimps-rise-again/

It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison between different concepts to better understand the advantages of each.