In my simpleton mind, I cannot understand why we do not use more blimps for transporting goods. Seems engines and fuel could be done with solar, also seems like they could be automated. Is it simply not cost effective? Is it dangerous even though modern blimps use helium? Eli5.
In: Engineering
Blimps are simply bad as flying machines. Also there is no way for the solar panels to make enough energy to completely eliminate the need for external charging, though they could indeed extend range.
But this takes us back to our first point. Why do we have flying machines? Because they can carry a lot of people and a decent amount of cargo across vast distances **quickly**. Speed is their most important attribute, otherwise trains and ships would completely eliminate the need for aircraft. But blimps are bad aircraft. Yes they can fly but with several limitations. They cannot go as fast as planes, in fact they’re slower than a slow plane going slow. They cannot carry a lot of people compared to their size, not that people would opt for a blimp over an airplane aside from the novelty factor because they’re slow, and they can’t carry a lot of cargo, at least relative to their size, and their size absolutely is a problem because that makes them expensive to make and to store. They’re also at the mercy of weather conditions much more than airplanes are, and they can’t easily fly high enough to avoid bad weather.
Basically nothing about blimps gives them an edge over conventional aircraft other than perhaps their fuel use.
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