To go up and stay suspended in the sky, the airship relies on helium gas, which is lighter than air; already in the forward displacement, motorized propellers come into action. This is basically how this strange vehicle, which appeared in France in the second half of the 19th century, flies. In the past, hydrogen was used to fill the balloon (or envelope) of airships, but this gas is flammable, which caused several accidents . The most famous tragedy was that of the German airship Hindenburg, in 1937, which exploded during landing, killing 36 passengers. Because of the risks, hydrogen was replaced by helium, a less efficient gas for suspending the vehicle, but with the great advantage of not being flammable. Despite being much safer, airships are still little used to transport cargo and passengers. This is because they are slow vehicles – they fly at 80 km/h, against more than 900 km/h for a Boeing 737-800 – and very vulnerable to bad weather conditions. However, because they are economical – since they use little fuel -, they are useful in activities such as environmental monitoring, advertising, aerial surveillance and capturing images for television. 🙂
IN THE GREATEST GAS
Some models even have up to 6 million liters of helium!
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
1) There are several types of airships, but the most used model today is the so-called semi-rigid airship. It has a metal frame on which the canvas envelope (the balloon) rests. This structure helps maintain the shape of the vehicle.
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
two) With a pump, the envelope receives helium gas. Less dense than air, helium tends to rise and pulls the airship up. The heavier the airship, the more gas it takes. Some models have 6 million liters of helium – or around 200,000 gas cylinders!
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
3) Inside the envelope are small balloons, the ballonets, which have air instead of helium. On takeoff, they are half full. When the vehicle reaches the ideal altitude, the pilot releases more air into the ballonets. Thus, the airship gains weight and stops rising.
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
4) To reach the desired altitude, the pilot controls the ballonets, but to move forward, he activates an engine with propellers, which are attached to the airship’s gondola. Without an engine, the vehicle would depend on air currents to move.
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
5) When turning left or right during the flight, the pilot uses the rudder – which is in the tail. There are also other instruments that help control the flight, such as the elevator, which allows you to point up or down.
–6) The pilot and any passengers stay in the gondola, a kind of airplane cabin. In addition to having the aircraft’s seats and control panel, the gondola is also where filming equipment such as TV cameras are installed.
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
7) When he wants to prepare for landing, the pilot inflates the ballonets with more air. Thus, the airship becomes much heavier and begins, slowly, to begin the work of descent. It is the final part of the flight.
– (Pavanelli and Luiz Iria/)
8) The autonomy of each airship varies from model to model and depends on factors such as the weight of the aircraft. In Brazil, the average autonomy of airships is seven hours at constant altitude and speed.