# Would passenger dirigibles be feasible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939 "2011-03-16T17:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/161 "2017-05-25T19:43:16Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Airborne aircraft carriers are iffy (cool, but as late WWII German weapon designs showed us, cool uberness is not relevant). Docking and undocking in mid-air is tricky and dirigibles can’t lift that much weight… > [@md2000](#): > > The USA did test a concept after WWI of an airship carrying two biplanes that came and went from hooks under the ship that grabbed a bar above the aircraft’s wing. I always thought that was a really neat idea… See post 148. The USS _Macon_ carried five Sparrowhawk warplanes; the _Akron_ three. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/162 "2017-05-25T23:58:30Z")
> [@Delicious](#): > > Would there be any advantage to using them as aircraft carriers for drones? If you’re fighting someone with no air force or anti-air ability, which seems standard practice for the US army recently, drifting your drone-carrier blimp over to the next group of insurgents might be easier than setting up a new base/flying the drone for miles. > > Or you could just fill it up with MOABs and kick them out the back door whenever you see someone looking terroristy down below…you could hover around and take really nice pictures of the explosion as well. There’s a DARPA project right now to use the C-130 as an aircraft carrier for drones. Like a hundred of them. With launch & recovery in mid air. There’s no upside to dirigibles. Slow, unmanueverable, fragile, un-weatherworthy, and most of all, payload limited. People think bcause they’re huge that they can carry a lot. Nope. They’re huge because that’s the minimum size they can be to carry even a pitifully small amount. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/163 "2017-05-26T14:23:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s no upside to dirigibles. Slow, unmanueverable, fragile, un-weatherworthy, and most of all, payload limited. Add: Expensive, fuel-inefficient, un-versatile. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/164 "2017-07-25T13:10:06Z")
Bumped. PBS will re-air the 2014 NOVA episode “Zeppelin Terror Attack,” about the German WWI military airship program, on Aug. 30. Check local listings: [http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=30499076](http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=30499076) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/165 "2017-07-25T13:48:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > PBS will re-air the 2014 NOVA episode “Zeppelin Terror Attack,” about the German WWI military airship program Time for a link to Scylla’s [_Horror of Blimps_](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=160851) thread. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/166 "2017-07-25T14:19:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > PBS will re-air the 2014 NOVA episode “Zeppelin Terror Attack,” about the German WWI military airship program, on Aug. 30. You can watch this on Youtube: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wzW4258oIyg/maxresdefault.jpg "WWI Zeppelin Terror Attack Documentary") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzW4258oIyg) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/167 "2017-07-25T14:35:03Z")
Awhile back, I read and was impressed by an essay that argued that effectively, [China is an Island](https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/geopolitics-china-great-power-enclosed). It pointed out the implications and limitations of China’s geographic situation. That led me to wonder if cargo-carrying zeppelins could be the key to making commerce across the interior of Asia more practical. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/168 "2017-07-26T19:20:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That led me to wonder if cargo-carrying zeppelins could be the key to making commerce across the interior of Asia more practical. Probably less effective than a [cargo-carrying train](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38654176). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/169 "2017-07-26T21:19:22Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Probably less effective than a [cargo-carrying train](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38654176). Probably. I was thinking dirigibles would require less infrastructure investment and maintenance; but on reflection bringing development to the hinterlands rather than just flying over them might be a side benefit of trains. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/170 "2017-07-27T02:54:30Z")
Ultimately, you only need to bring supplies & equipment to where people are. There is a chicken and egg problem in setting up a far-flung village. But once it has a simple airfield the dirigible is useless compared to a suitable transport airplane, be that a Twin Otter equivalent, C-130 equivalent, a C-17 equivalent, or an ordinary turboprop or jet. Relatively few settlements are plunked down in the wilderness _ab initio_. Typically the people get there overland using (and extending if necessary) the existing road and railroad structure. Out at the edges, the “road” may be little more than jeep ruts across the tundra or grassland. But it is a road and it connects back to civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939/171 "2017-07-27T15:26:14Z")
[quote=“PastTense, post:166, topic:574939”] You can watch this on Youtube: [/QUOTE] Ah, thanks! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-passenger-dirigibles-be-feasible/574939.md?page=8)