This is the zeppelin Eureka – a football-shaped airship filled with helium.
It’s owned by a Silicon Valley software mogul and is in town for a few days, offering sightseeing rides for $300 and up. Our new partners The Seattle Times wrote:
A zeppelin is not a blimp. Zeppelins have a rigid structure of carbon fiber and would not collapse absent the helium. Blimps are more akin to balloons. The Hindenburg, which famously burst into flames, killing three dozen people in 1937, was a zeppelin. It was filled with flammable hydrogen, though; hydrogen isn’t used nowadays. Helium, which is inert, is the gas of choice.
Read the full Seattle Times store here.
Hi folks,
I like the lase sentence, “Helium, which is inert is the gas of choice” I hope it is the only gas they use as all the other lighter than air gases burn.
If you want to see more on airships, past, present and future see: http://www.airshipblimp.com or if you just want a helium sniffing laugh try http://www.airship.me the worlds only lighter than air comedy site, with lots of funny pictures and U tube links fit for all the family.
Regards Bond, James Bond.
(Skyship blimp pilot in a View to a Kill)
PS. For the star of a future James Bond film see the Skycat: http://www.hybridairvehicles.com