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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 3455.PDF
'fEIt '/J-JAM A J If E^PPELIN NT Zeppelin hopes to resurrect a golden age with its New Technology airship Rigid returns Despite a troubled history, airship maker Zeppelin is making a comeback. ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/FRIEDRICHSHAFEN IT SEEMS AS if the golden age of rigid air ships is remembered by the general public only in terms of romantic tragedy. The most enduring images are those of disasters such as die broken-backed RlOl or the blazing Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenhirg. The hydrogen-filled Hindenburg in particular — filmed by news crews as it crashed down in flames on top of the crowds awaiting its arrival at Lakehurst on 6 May, 1937 — did much to label the airship as a suspect form of transport, while the subsequent destruction in Frankfurt of the giant LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin during the Second World War was essentially the post script to an era already ended. Since then, only small blimps have meandered the skies com mercially, mostly carrying advertising, while ideas for new semi-rigid, or hybrid, airships have so far made little headway. Now, however, the company, which was to rigid airships what Hoover is to vacuum clean ers, is returning to the products which made it famous. Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT), based at Friedrichshafen on the German shore of Lake Constance, has begun assembly of a prototype New Technology (NT) airship for 12 passengers, which could be flying by early 1997. BACK TO ITS ROOTS Zeppelin envisages that the first prototype, called LZ N07, could develop into a whole fam ily of NT airships, the biggest of which could carry 84 passengers. All this depends, naturally, on the accuracy of the market analyses which spurred Zeppelin to return to its roots. Luftschiffbau Zeppelin was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1908, and still exists under the auspices of the Zeppelin foundation. The venerable former manufactur er of the early 20th century's airborne giants now owns 51 % of ZLT, with the remaining 49% divided equally between engineering firm Zeppelin, gear specialist ZF Friedrichshafen and Lemforder Metallwaren. ZLT itself was founded in 1993, after studies begun in 1989 suggested that the airship may yet enjoy a revival. Zeppelin's analysis confirmed that the days of rigid airships as long-range freight or passenger transports were long gone, simply because they could never match other forms of transport in terms of speed. Zeppelin did, however, suggest that a niche market exists between the fixed- wing aircraft and the helicopter, in roles which could take advantage of the airship's capabilities of vertical take-off and long, quiet and cheap loiter times. Examination of the safety record of earlier airships showed that the most hazardous peri ods of operation were take-off and landing, with most accidents being caused by the airship's poor manoeuvrability. The groundcrew was identified as both a safety problem and an eco nomic one, accounting for a large chunk of operational costs. It was also found that the traditional Zeppelin concept of a rigid frame inside the hull of the airship still offered advantages in safety — maintaining the shape of the envelope at higher speeds and in sharper manoeuvres — and per formance, allowing more convenient location of propulsion units for speed and manoeuvrability. NEW TECHNOLOGY The NT generation of airships therefore has a lighter, simplified, version of a rigid airship 34 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 November - 5 December 1995
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