Sky Cruises

pretty neat vacation cruise. safer than space vacations that are coming soon. i'm thinking when this becomes available maybe expat and mrs.expat can go and report back to the rest of us wuvians. you game sweetie? 😉

Ok, I was really confused. By the time I logged in and came back this post was up and I blindly clicked the YouTube link expecting to see Turge Babonet. I was waiting the whole time to see how bad the film was, but it just wasn't coming. Cool video though. I love the organic feel of everything.

hey dc! yeah i must have put up this post while you were logging in sweetie. how'd you like to ride in this thing?

thanks kdp. I fixed that mistake above. brain fart! :red:

I love getting blown on cruise ships :cheese:

and at home, and in the car, and outside, and... :lol:

Yeah, but did anyone catch the statement that it would be lifted with hydrogen? Have these people forgotten the Hindenberg disaster? Sure, fill it with the most flammable element next to oxygen, then send it across the Atlantic Ocean at slow pace, and just wait for the next terrorist surface-to-air missle shoulder-shot. Sorry to spoil the party.

Sorry, Patty, 37hrs in a blimp just ain't my idea of fun. We just flew to Samos to save ourselves a 16hr boat ride. BTW, photos up on the web site http://www.dasoftvss.com/photos/ for anyone interested.

danny, hydrogen is arguably less dangerous than the gasoline in your car:

Lower explosive limit - 4% (H2), 1.4% (Gas).
Ignition temperature - 550°C (H2), 250°C (Gas).
Min ignition energy - 0.02 mJ (H2), 0.2 mJ (Gas), in pure O2.

So you need more of it and a higher temperature for it to spontaneously ignite, but conversely a smaller spark will also set it off. Because hydrogen is so light and diffuses relatively rapidly proper ventilation is often enough to prevent sufficient gas accumulation to ignite, but obviously good spark suppression is also essential.

H2 is one of the most widely used chemicals in industry, particularly agrochemicals, and is even sometimes used as a coolant in electrical generators, and has an excellent safety record. Using the Hindenberg as a reference point is about as relevant as claiming that the fact that Trevithick's 1801 "self-propelled carriage" caught fire and burned down a stable proves all automobiles are dangerous fire hazards.

DF, I liked the junk science better. More believable. 😉

I've crossed the Pond in 5 days on the QE2 (which was a poorly-maintained tub, IMHO), but I can't see doing it in an airship. The missus is a white-knuckle flier; she can get tanked up and sleep for enough of an 8-hour flight to make it, but I don't see how she'd manage a three-day bender just to get to Harrod's.

Thanks for info, DF. I just liked the thought of what might happen if a Stinger hit it. Guess it would just ruin the day of some of the people inside, without taking down the ship. Something that big and slow is an easy target.

Oh, absolutely, mario, on both counts. And have a nice trip to Argentina.

Its a neat idea, but the interior is hideous (and probably extremely uncomfortable) and the design is preposterous. The best airship design by far is that of the original zeppelin (though I would add some more modern features like a glass floor observation room and an outdoor observation deck on the roof like in Arthur C. Clarke's "Meeting with Medusa"). My favorite modern design is the Aeroscraft, which shows a lot of promise and could potentially be available in a smaller yacht version.

By the way, these aren't blimps, they are rigid airships, like Zeppelins. A blimp is a balloon with a cabin underneath, while the shape of a rigid airship has nothing to do with the balloons and the cabin is integrated into the ship itself. Also, since they are essentially cruise ships without the ocean, the experience would be like staying in a hotel with spectacular views. I think that 37 hours is way too fast, a more reasonable time would be a week or so (it would be very hard to convince someone to take the long route when it isn't even two full days. With a 5 day trip they could sell to the same people who go on traditional cruise ships).