# Hindenberg question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760 "2005-01-03T00:32:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/1 "2005-01-03T00:32:50Z")
If the Hindenberg had never blown up would we still have zeppelin travel today? What do you think the chances are of zeppelin travel being revived? With helium instead of hydrogen of course. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/2 "2005-01-03T00:47:32Z")
> [@Jeffro](#): > > If the Hindenberg had never blown up would we still have zeppelin travel today? No; for the same reason we no longer have flying boats in commercial service. Aviation advanced to give us faster means of getting across the oceans. > [@Jeffro](#): > > What do you think the chances are of zeppelin travel being revived? About zero. There is some interest amongst aviation enthusiasts. (I’d like to fly around the works in a zeppelin.) But it’s just doesn’t do what other vehicles do better. That is, a ship carried more cargo, and a jet goes faster, and an ocean liner gets people places in luxury slowly. Heck, there are lots of blimps; and I don’t know how to even get a ride in one. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/3 "2005-01-03T00:56:51Z")
Rigid airship travel was, for all practical purposes, already dead by 1937, due to a string of disasters (in addition to the _Hindenberg_, the _R-101_, the _Macon_, the _Akron_, and the _Shenandoah_ were all lost in-flight.) The _Hindenberg_ would have been converted to war usage at the start of WWII (as the _Graf Zeppelin II_ was in reality), and that would have been the end of that. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/4 "2005-01-03T02:06:35Z")
There may be a small role for “boutique” airship travel. But when you look at costs, speeds and carrying capacity, they are hopelessly outclassed by other transportation methods. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/5 "2005-01-03T03:07:04Z")
There was an excellent thread that explored this stuff in GQ less than a month ago; search GQ for “airship” if someone doesn’t provide a link. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/6 "2005-01-03T04:54:29Z")
> [@Jeffro](#): > > What do you think the chances are of zeppelin travel being revived? With helium instead of hydrogen of course. You would probably need to have some sort of extinction level event happen , where the logistics infrastructure for heavier than air travel, was gone. As well, hydrogen would most likely still be used, regardless of the hindenburg experience, if the ELE were to happen, importation of helium might not be even available. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/7 "2005-01-03T18:56:28Z")
The Hindenberg didn’t really burn due to hydrogen, it was the flammable paint used on the outside of the airship. [http://www.hydrogennow.org/Facts/Safety-1.htm](http://www.hydrogennow.org/Facts/Safety-1.htm) Granted, this is a site promoting hydrogen usage, but this has been reported many times by many journals, this was just a nice source of the info. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindenberg-question/282760/8 "2005-01-03T23:29:32Z")
You can take a Zepelin NT ride [http://www.zeppelinflug.de/pages/E/haupt.htm](http://www.zeppelinflug.de/pages/E/haupt.htm) Oh, and Chaulk’s still uses flying boats commercially: [http://www.chalksoceanairways.com/](http://www.chalksoceanairways.com/) Brian