Last Surviver of the Hindenburg Disaster Dead at 90

This news is a few days old. Sorry if posted elsewhere.

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It’s crazy to think this was still within someone’s lifetime.

A while back (lots of years) we went up the Empire State building, and went up to where the ladders led to the airship dock they used to have on the ‘tower’ at the top. Not sure if they still tour that, but it seemed pretty steampunk at the time even then.

Airships are all sorts of odd. I wonder if luxury recreational cruisers will ever make a comeback for those not in a hurry?

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Over here we are giving Yacht clubs taxi-free status. The next trend will be billionaires with tax-free blimp-yachts.

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That image gives me the colds sweats just thinking about climbing down a ladder or using some sort of harness to get from the gondola to the building. :crazy_face:

Wheels

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Safety harness, hah! Here’s the twitch stream :slight_smile: of it being built:

I think the plan was some sort of gangway, with a modified dirigible. Terrifying.

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Good grief, that’s worse… faint

Wheels

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Amazing…
What a way to travel, though. And what a way to arrive directly to the city! Just dock at a tall downtown building and go straight to your hotel.

In Vadsø, northern Norway, the airship mast that moored the airships Norge and Italia that carried Amundsen, Ellsworth and Nobile, on their way to the North pole.

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I love the craziness of the time. I mean…let’s just think about the process of getting a massive floating bomb that ties itself to the tallest building in Manhattan approved today. I would love to read the proposal for that…

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Even at that time there were helium filled ones, too.
Those are not that bad.

Well, todays politicians and bureaucrats are very binary too…
If it hasn’t had a catastrophic accident, it’s safe.
If it has had a catastrophic accident it’s totally unsafe!
And catastrophically dangerous things can be considered totally safe, if that’s what the public opinion or lobby thinks and such policy will get them re-elected.

Sorry for being slightly political. But I’m not pointing a party political finger here. Most parties and countries have been guilty of this and it’s nothing new… :slight_smile:

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Yeah…I can’t imagine the…the…helmsmanship (?) that must be required to bring a massive airship up to a skyscraper like that. I mean…sure, they point into the wind naturally and all, but anyone who has flown knows about the Venturis and burbles and updrafts around skylines. Must have been pretty taxing…

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Yeah… Mooring to a ground based mast is one thing. They threw out mooring lines and got help from ground handlers. But on the top of the ESB…! :sweat:

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That’s what killed air shows in Germany.

Exactly.
There’s a saying in aviation that an accident doesn’t prove it’s unsafe. Zero accidents doesn’t prove it’s safe.

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