this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 61 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Let's put a billion birthday balloons worth of MRI gas in a terminally slow aircraft and inexplicably fly it over sports stadiums.

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There are other gasses to use.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

And that don’t readily explode when exposed to an ignition source?

(I actually think hydrogen party balloons would be fun).

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[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Modern airship designs can go hundreds of km per hour.

With modern technology we also can contain fire into pockets.

This isn’t much different than criticising a plane because petrol is flammable.

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[–] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

they were abandoned because commercial airliners were faster, safer, more durable, and could carry more people.

[–] Dicska@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

...and they don't fuck up our limited helium reserves en masse.

EDIT: they might fuck up other things, but it would be some serious waste, because there are much more important applications to our limited helium.

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[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hard to say that theyre really safer, when the primary safety incident everyone thinks of, occurred during the 1930s, a time whose airplanes certainly wouldnt have been as safe as modern ones either

[–] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 4 points 1 month ago

planes are safer because they are less prone to failure and can take more damage (and more significant damage) before falling out of the sky, as well as being able to maneuver on the way down instead of just actually falling.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Also hard to maneuver, hard to park, and not very good in even moderately bad weather.

[–] cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)
[–] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 5 points 1 month ago

I still haven’t seen the series-ending movie because I was so underwhelmed by the final season.

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[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airship_accidents

Apart from the 80% of the entries that are basically "Crashed during bad weather" - my personal highlights:

... breaks loose from its mooring during a storm and is blown over the English Channel; after sightings in Wales and Ireland and a brief touchdown in Belfast, the airship was blown out over the Atlantic Ocean and is never seen again.

Zeppelin LZ 8 Deutschland II (brand new) is caught by a wind gust while being walked out of its hangar and damaged beyond repair after it smashes on the roof of the hangar.

... the airship, weighed down with gold and burgundy paint, reached 600 feet altitude before beginning an unplanned right descending turn, making a "controlled descent" into a garbage dump, impaling the blimp on a pine tree, coming down just a quarter-mile from the site of the Hindenburg's 1937 demise.

... suffers an intentional mid-air collision with a radio-controlled airplane.

[–] mmddmm@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

Yes, those things are really hard to park.

[–] Stamau123@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

lol, the gilded blimp crashing into a junkyard

[–] twice_hatch@midwest.social 6 points 1 month ago

the airship was blown out over the Atlantic Ocean and is never seen again.

Hastily stuffing "Ghost zeppelin" into my horror idea bag

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Every 100 years, I guess. We gotta go through all the shit every 100 years.

[–] untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (5 children)

what if it was made of helium though

that stuff doesn't burn

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Helium has problems of its own, sadly. Besides being a little bit less effective at actually lifting, it's relatively scarce on Earth and it leaks even faster than hydrogen

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I believe we're also already getting dangerously close to depleting our supply of helium, as well.

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's actually not a big deal for blimps. Blimps don't lose a lot of helium, they only need to be serviced for if like once a year. When people say we have a helium crisis, they're talking about high-purity helium for advanced medical work and advanced science.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Phew, so it's only a crisis for important shit. Dodged a bullet there! :D

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[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's a Noble gas that we can't synthesize chemically and is light enough it just floats away forever when released. And it provides less lift than hydrogen.

Helium's sole advantage is also why it's about the least-renewable thing out there.

[–] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The thing we're running out of?

[–] untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

yeah I didn't think of that

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[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The Empire State Building was designed as a zeppelin docking station. Boarding/de-boarding and flight times are barely competitive with the modern subway. It was fun and novel, but quite impractical.

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[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

honestly, I bet we could probably make a hydrogen one reasonably safe, if we really wanted to. Sure, its flammable and all, but so is jet fuel, and we can throw giant tanks of that stuff into the air safely with enough engineering put into it.

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[–] takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

We had the pandemic, now likely a great depression, so why not Hindenburg?

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Who needs Hindenburg when you have Boeing? Also Boeing: Bits Of Engine In Neighbours Garden

[–] Headofthebored@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

Well, the Nazis were stupid and used hydrogen instead of helium. The Hindenburg, pride of Nazi Germany, was full of rich people when it blew up in New Jersey, so who really cares anyway?

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's also worth noting that it wasn't the hydrogen that caused the fire. The Hindenburg had an aluminium skin. It began having degradation issues, so they painted it. The paint was iron oxide based. Aluminium and iron oxide are the 2 main ingredients in thermite.

Analysis of the video shows that it was the skin burning off. It would have gone up almost as badly, even if filled with helium.

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 month ago

Thermite is known for being freaking hard to ignite, even torching it is not enough sometimes. So I doubt that had anything to do with the fire.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Not according to myth busters. Although some thermite reactions likely accured the blimp would have gone up without it

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Helium is very finite and very leaky. If you want flying ships you need something else.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] troybot@midwest.social 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A gigantic maid with a vacuum cleaner

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[–] Redredme@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

The Nazis had to use hydrogen because that other gas was hoarded as a strategic reserve by another nation.

But still Nazis. So...

Anyway big flying things are cool. Still would be.

its just that planes are faster, cheaper to build, less of a hassle to land and take off...

[–] ninjakttty@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Well they weren’t totally stupid, they couldn’t get helium because the US restricted them from getting it as the largest supplier. The plan was originally to use helium, but they went with the second best option.

[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Far from the only fuckup they made.

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[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

We shouldn't have made them from led.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's some research done on aerogel airships. There's still hope

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[–] lettruthout@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (7 children)

I don’t understand this meme. Everyone knows that modern airships use helium instead of hydrogen, right?

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago

It was my understanding that these vessels were propelled by flatulence.

[–] shishka_b0b@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

I don’t understand this meme either. Everyone knows that modern airships use farts instead of hydrogen, right?

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Whatever happened to the Goodyear Blimp? Feels like it's been decades since I've seen it!

[–] naticus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

They're actually having a 100 year celebration right now and all 3 of the US based Goodyear blimps are over Akron, Ohio this week.

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[–] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

We need more airship content

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