Crash Of The Airlander 10.... What Do You Think About It ?

This is a newspaper article from the "Independant"

Airlander 10, the world's largest aircraft, has crashed during its second test flight.

The huge ship – nicknamed "The Flying Bum" because of its pert, round back – crashed as it landed at its base at Cardington Airfield this morning, at the end of its second attempt to fly. Its official name is the Martha Gwyn – however, it gained notoriety not just because of its huge size but the interesting shape of its back.

Now is the question: What do you think about it???

 

I am not a huge fan of zeppelins, right from the start they are not the most effective design. Sure they could technically lift the most weight per the size and speed travelled, although they are terrible flying machines that almost serve no purpose. I often hear they are great when used in construction lifting of material and other heavy lifting tasks although, it isn't really very popular considering the amount of time it takes to build one and with that the weather conditions are hardly ever suitable for flight. Archaic design that never really meets its highest possible purpose.

 

They have a use for transporting cargo, good explanation here:

https://www.quora.com/Could-zeppelins-be-more-efficient-than-ships-trains-and-planes-to-move-cargo

 

I'm quite surprised giant VTOL drones haven't been manufactured for heavy lifting of cargo and other supplies to far off locations that require accuracy during any time of the 24 hour clock. Just set up two points of GPS locations and have fleets of VTOL drones running all day and all night to deliver massive amounts of goods and equipment, would be pretty elite.

 

From my understanding, the efficiency of drones isn't linear; power doesn't increase relative to size increases. For this reason, many smaller drones work better. I believe Amazon has already started investigating this delivery concept.

 

Big drone VTOL does make sense... great idea c1b3r. I've always liked heavy lifting helicopters...



Zeppelins are ok, I've always had a soft spot for em and wish the Hindenburg hadn't of gone up like it did. They're the luxury liners of the sky when handled properly, and deserve a fair shot.

 

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

 

It's far too unreliable and prone to failure, not to mention an expensive operations overhaul. That's why I laughed...

 

And hell, if we north americans(or just Americans) can have little flying robots delivering little presents to our doorsteps, then shouldn't we also be stabilizing and feeding the rest of the planet instead of being cheesy self-serving goombas?

 

Sure, but that's a discussion of social morality rather than one of feasibility

 

Baha I suppose so, but shouldn't it be talked about? Especially in Canada with our supposed higher motives and ideals?

Stupid ass idea if you ask me, flying mini delivery robots. We're not the Jetsons here fam.. starving kids on this planet and they want flying delivery bots. Bourns

 

That VTOL heavy delivery drone idea was really a good one though.... air transport

 

Well, people are going to buy shit anyway, right?
And, they're gonna need it delivered anyway, right?
If this method costs less, then why not be for it?

 

It's short-sighted and cheesy because what about when bad weather hits? The potential losses alone negate any cost savings they might be forecasting. What about the actual logistics of launching and retrieving little flying robots and building centers of operation for them when youve already got working delivery solutions? What about theft and interference from criminals? A little drone has only so much package security and I know I wouldn't trust my packages to be delivered by one. It's not tangible/practical in the real world.

 

1. SpaceX managed to land a rocket on a floating barge. If they can do that, Amazon can figure out drone delivery.
2. Obviously, any transportation method is only as good as the environment. They ground normal transport planes in adverse weather, why not delivery drones?
3. How many packages get delivered on your street every day by a courier? On my block, I've probably seen 6 trucks this week (UPS, FedEx, Purolator, etc). One was Purolator for me and the package was 50 pounds. One was UPS for me and the package was 2 feet long and 5 pounds. Not sure about the other deliveries, but mine were obviously too heavy for a drone. So, how frequently do you think you'd actually see one?

 

Exactly, it's too impractical for them to even be considering. It's ridiculous! A waste of time and energy.

 

"Exactly" what?

What about the thousands of packages that currently get delivered through the mail, taking 2-3 days even within the same city? Amazon seeks to cut the middleman and deliver directly. This is more efficient, not less.

Edit:
Consider the scenario where a mechanic/shop needs to order parts. Currently, they will get a company like Piston Ring to deliver the part, which involves a driver getting in their vehicle and driving across a city to drop off an oil filter. So, a kilowatt of power to charge a drone's battery vs a litre of gasoline, never mind the cost of the delivery driver.

 

....
you've opened my eyes to the world of possibilities here!

Still though, electric drones have limited range and durability and it would take a massive effort to get the project off the ground. If we were betting, I'd bet this is one project that doesn't take flight. Not for a while at least.

 

Yeah, and they're talking about "delivery within 30 minutes". They're not talking about sending a drone hundreds of miles, they're talking about using a drone to zip the package directly to the customer from the local distribution centre, rather than wasting time putting it in standard mail.

 

Still they'd need to design their own drone for the purpose and I don't see them doing that. Sure I guess they could use their existing distribution centers...wait wait no they couldn't they'd need to buy or lease new properties in most cases in order to make this thing work. Even small-scale were talking about major expansion here. And new purpose-designed and produced drones...