Comments on: Hindenburg Flight Operations and Procedures

By: rick V

rick V — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:54:21 +0000

how long could a zeppelin stay aloft?

By: Alex Burt

Alex Burt — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:06:18 +0000

I’m currently at university for Aerospace Engineering and I have an unconventional end goal of being directly involved in airship development. I’ve always been fascinated by the crafts. I recently found this site and the comprehensive history of Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg. This is fantastic! Thanks, Dan.

By: Paul Giguere

Paul Giguere — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:45:13 +0000

I am a retired AF navigator (B-29 to B-52). I saw the Hindenberg when I was about 10 years old so it must have been 1936-37. We kids were playing baseball in the small town of Brooklyn, Connecticut when we became aware of the sound of many engines. Then we caught sight of this huge majestic silver airship slowly crossing over us. It was very low probably only 3 to 4 thousand feet. We could see every detail plainly. Needless to say, we were rendered speechless for the whole passage but would never forget this day.

By: Uncle B

Uncle B — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:25:21 +0000

Diesel engines! Cheaper to run than the jet planes of today? I suspect that in the liquid fuels crunch coming upon the U.S.A. as we speak, the dirigibles will fly again, and time = money equation will come into play as the burgeoning Asian growth demands a larger slice of the finite supply of oil to the world. Expect America to feed its electric bullet train network, seeded by Obama in Florida, until no jet planes fly, and look to heavy haulers, the diesel dirigibles to relieve the road-ways of transports – after all, the dirigibles go in shorter straight lines! As oil prices sneak up, we adapt to the tipping point, then a rash of alternate technologies take over. We are limited in the amount of oil we can purchase by our personal EROI’s which are much lower than expected without out our cheap oil leverage. Suffice to say the tipping points are near, the electric bullet trains are being prepared, the Zeppelins are on the drawing boards and America is about to convulse in paradigm shifts away from liquid fuels and towards solar, wind, wave, hydro, tidal, geothermal, nuclear generated electric energy in a big way!

By: KERMIT SIMON

KERMIT SIMON — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:18:18 +0000

I have been into airships on and off since I was a kid, and have been reading this website on and off for at least several days now!! I to long for, among many other things, a time machine to go back and be “such a bleeding tourist”!! I to long to see the “graceful silver whales of the sky”!! I certainly do “dream of sky ships”, and I definitely long to hear those two words: “UP SHIP!!

By: Dan (Airships.net)

Dan (Airships.net) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:51:18 +0000

I have been meaning to add a section describing this procedure in detail, but I am unfortunately limited by a lack of time. It’s definitely on my “to do” list, though!

By: Norman Langridge

Norman Langridge — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:44:01 +0000

Would appreciate a more detailed procedures of how the ship is housed into its hanger. I assume that it would be impossible to achieve a perfect weightless situation and take it that once the ship is ‘anchored’ to the ground it is then given a degree of lift. A recently seen film suggests that there were parallel tracks leading away from the hangers and it may well be that these had trolleys on them which would keep the ship down, but allow lateral movement into the hanger. Dangling ropes themselves would have weight of course and once they touched the ground their weight would decrease as the ship got lower and this would help achieve a balanced scenerio.

By: paul

paul — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:49:26 +0000

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spent all last night awake because I have a kidney stone. I thought I would watch the television for most of it because I could not get comfortable.
I saw a documentary on the Graf Zeplin flying around the globe.
This morning (feeling a bit better), I thought I would look up ,Eckener on the internet and found this website………..
Wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Ron Barrett, USAF Ret. Navigator

Ron Barrett, USAF Ret. Navigator — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:53:03 +0000

Dan, what a great web site. I will get my act together and do a history of flight navigation paper for all to add to or critique,,, as the dirigible fliers were the first to really get aviation into the international arena.

Good ole’ pilotage and dead reckoning were the first nav techniques, followed by the use of weather pressure patterns for oceanic flights. I have flown pressure pattern in a C-124,,, and note after WWII, we were able to compute at altitude “geostrophic winds.” This they could not do in the dirigibles as they had no radar altimeter and it requires such, plus it requires an autopilot that flies a barometric surface (which all do to this date). So they flew with the pressure induced winds at altitude.

Of great help till’ this day is the driftmeter. One can with a drift meter determine wind at altitude and ground speed. I call it the poor man’s doppler. Only requirement:you had to be able to see the ground. Over water you got good at wave watching and using the Beaufort scale of wind force;albeit surface wind. Helped a lot when we were considering ditching our plane.

Please contact me/us at http://www.afnoa.org or at at http://www.usaf-nav-history.com for navigation matters.

Fun aviation history, Ron Barrett, President Air Force Navigators Observers Association (AFNOA).

By: John Parker

John Parker — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:45:02 +0000

I confess to having several addictions — when the chance to combine two of them offered itself, I seized the opportunity. (3D photography, and Zeppelins.) One of my most cherished possessions is a set of stereoviews of both the Graf and the Hindenburg (somewhere around 100 shots). I can literally “run around” both the Graff and the Hindenburg in 3d at any time. The Graff was the ship to ride; though much less spacious in accommodations, the outside window in each cabin was worth it.

I’ve watched with great interest the NT, hoping for another “cruise ship”. I also feel “100 years too late”; sadly, given the economic state and clear current misdirection, a “cruise ship” likely will never be viable. Also as much of a tragedy was the cancellation of the “Las Vegas” blimp over the Strip after 9/11. I have yet to actually FLY on an LTA. If only I could get the time-machine working — I would be such a bleeding tourist.

Thank you for an excellent article. I learned things — the automatic pilot was fascinating. It is also exciting to learn there are others with such deep love for the “gas-bags”, a term which does no justice to the graceful silver whales of the sky.

Often as I fall asleep I’ve wondered how many others dream of sky ships; and the excitement that begins with two simple words:

“Up Ship!”