Zeppelin NT 004 picture

Yes you are reading right we got the first picture of the Zeppelin NT 004. Well, it's not really the NT004 yet but it's pieces of what is to become the NT 004. John Christopher of Zeppelintours was so nice to share this image with me.

In yesterdays entry about the Zeppelin Nose, I had assumed that it is not the Zepp 004 and that the nose that can be seen is the one of the Skyship 600. Turns out, I was right! John send me an email explaining it a bit more in detail this is part of what he wrote

The latest pictures in you show are definitely not the new Zeppelin 004. [...] It is, as you suggest, the nose of the SK600 - you can see the nose batons quite clearly.

When we were in Friedrichshafen just a few weeks ago the new Zepp 004 consisted of several piles of new girders and the girder-jigs in position on the hangar floor. Don't expect to see that baby poking its nose out of the door for many months to come. Probably not until early 2008.[...]

The photo of the unpainted Zeppelin is not 004 either, obviously. I see it was posted in April 2006, so probably 003 between advertising paint jobs. Note the absence of nose batons which are not needed on the Zepps.

If you want to get a close up look at the building of the Zeppelin 004 and fly in a real Zeppelin join one of John Christophers Zeppelintours they have just added several new tour dates to Friedrichshafen this summer - see their website tours calendar at www.zeppelintours.com. The website also has some new photos and information.

New Zeppelin nose ? [updated]

I found this picture on flickr the other day, and was wondering if the comment there is right. The comment reads

Die Nase des Neuen / The first Glimpse of the new Zeppelin

[update]Since the original picture somehow got marked private here is the link to the picture that I still have.[/update]

I think it's rather the Skyship formerly known as "The Spirit of Dubai"
if you look at this picture, that was posted previously here, the nose kind of looks like the one on the picture.

If you compare the nose in the top most picture to the one of the Zeppelin NT I really think it's the Skyship that's shown on the picture.

So what do you think? New Zeppelin or just the good old Skyship with new paint? Please leave a comment or send us an Email.

All those pictures are Copyrighted please follow the links to the originals, and more Copyright informations.

1st International Airship Investors Conference - Update for May 2007

I would like to share some informations with you, about the current going ons around the 1st International Airship Investors Conference. In the last month we have gotten together and are taking up speed with the organization. After Paul, investigated South Africa as a location it turned out not to be the ideal place, because of different reasons. So we were looking for a new Location somewhere in the world where it is easy to get to and came to the conclusion to move the conference to Berlin, Germany. Germany has a great history with airships and seemed to be a good choice on first sight, but then we found out that in 2008 there is also the ILA in Berlin which is a great forum for the conference since the Berlin Air Show is one of the biggest Aviation trade fairs of the world. So the IAIC is planed to be in parallel to the Berlin Air Show ILA2008 which is in the time range of May 27th to June 1st 2008. We are still working out details but wanted to communicate this. We will also launch a special page where we will put more information about speaker, sign-up possibilities and lot's more. If you are interested in the Conference want to attend it or learn more information about it, please contact us via our email address which can be found in the upper left corner of the blog.
To further plan the conference we are meeting in Munich, Germany on June 16th parallel to the RC-Controlled Blimps Regatta at the Technische Universität München. Expect more updates after this meeting.

The Blimp [via Emergence Design]

Today I stumbled over the site Emergence Design, on it you find a collection of works, done by Master Graduates in Industrial Design from the Lund University in Sweden.
One of the Works is by Carl Hagerling, he designed an airship/blimp where the gondola moves and changes the center of gravity.
The description reads as follows:

the Blimp
The Blimp is a helium filled airship that could by changing the centre of gravity, fly in horizontal and vertical position.
This gives us an airship that is easier to maneuver and has good aerodynamics

I extracted some pictures from the press-kit, which you can check out here.

(Click the images for the full size)
I think the concept is very interesting, but feasibility has to be proven, also I am wondering if the size calculations and proportions are all correct. what do you as reader think, let us know. I am trying to get more information and maybe some in depth information about this project from Carl Hagerling. If we get updates they will be posted here.

Clearing the tubes

Just a quick announcement, I am working through all the news and it is really a lot of stuff, my tubes are quite filled if you understand what I mean. So I am working on it, also trying to improve my news scanning process to further speed it up, to be able to deliver more and better stuff faster. Bare with me, by the end of the week I hope to be back to par. There is also a redesign of the Blog in the pipes, that takes up some time, so if you have some news-items, that you think are worth mentioning on the blog, send an email to airshipworld at gmail.com

Some movies never get done aka (Zeppelin vs Pterodactyls)

So this has been floating around the last few weeks in the blogosphere and I just want to mention it shortly. In the 1970s a Movie Company called Hammer Film was planing on putting out a movie about a Zeppelin stranded in a Lost World, where it had to fight dinosaurs. The Movie should have been called Zeppelin vs Pterodactyls. I don't know where I first had read about it but Airminded was one of the first I remember. Unfortunately movies that do not get made are not much of a help I guess. So why not looking at some movies that are actually available. The AIRSHIP Website has a nice page listing quite a few Airship - Feature Films, of which i have probably watched a maximum of one or two, but if you are looking into which movies to rent or get for the next video night that list might be a good start.
If you are more interested in upcoming films, to plan your trips to the movie theater, checkout "Stardust" or "The Golden Compass". Actually i have some video footage of His Dark Materials that I would like to share.
The first Video is a teaser Trailer I found on YouTube:

The second one is a very high quality Trailer that I am just going to link to since I don't want that people have to download huge amounts of data. It shows the Airship which can be seen in the movie a lot better than in the YouTube Video.
So go to this page to check the Theatrical Trailer
Again comes my question for discussion in the Comments, do you think the fictional airships pictured in those movies could actually fly? What would they need to fly, how much bigger would they have to be in the real world, what would have to be changed. Share your opinions with us in the comments.

Back from holidays

I am back from my vacation and working through the many emails and news items, that accumulated in the last week. Check back tonight for the next news post. I'm probably gonna increase the frequency a bit in the next week to catch up with what was happening in the last one.