"Hydrogen can be made safe, and is renewable. For something like this to work we need to move past the Hindenburg."
Seems to me you're right. In some ways it's a damn shame that reporters and movie cameras were at Lakehurst that fateful day, unfortunately their presence set back airship development at least a half century.
The WWI matter that nosianu has raised about how hard it was to bring down hydrogen-filled airships due to the difficulty of igniting the hydrogen is well known and it ought to be a starting point for its reintroduction. New containment materials combined with what we've learned from the Hindenburg should also do the trick. On a regulatory point, if you kept hydrogen to cargo-only airships and where possible even routed them around heavily populated areas (at least until well proven) we could see hydrogen make a comeback.
Also, Hydrogen has that other advantage, it has about 8% more lift than helium. It occurred to me hydrogen's risk could be further mitigated if it were used in combination with helium where they shared the lifting - the hydrogen able of being vented, etc. and the helium bagged separately as permanent/primary buoyancy. Reckon that with a fresh look we've many new options to explore.
Seems to me you're right. In some ways it's a damn shame that reporters and movie cameras were at Lakehurst that fateful day, unfortunately their presence set back airship development at least a half century.
The WWI matter that nosianu has raised about how hard it was to bring down hydrogen-filled airships due to the difficulty of igniting the hydrogen is well known and it ought to be a starting point for its reintroduction. New containment materials combined with what we've learned from the Hindenburg should also do the trick. On a regulatory point, if you kept hydrogen to cargo-only airships and where possible even routed them around heavily populated areas (at least until well proven) we could see hydrogen make a comeback.
Also, Hydrogen has that other advantage, it has about 8% more lift than helium. It occurred to me hydrogen's risk could be further mitigated if it were used in combination with helium where they shared the lifting - the hydrogen able of being vented, etc. and the helium bagged separately as permanent/primary buoyancy. Reckon that with a fresh look we've many new options to explore.