The first golden age of floating dirigibles ended on approximately May 6, 1937. The new golden age of blimpity bleep bloop blimps starts right now!
Why fly something in an airplane when you could float that thing in a blimp, for a fraction of the price? Good question. Real good question. A company called Aeroscraft, with the help of the Defense Department's $$$, is ready to bring back blimps, as a "thing." And not a moment too soon! Bloomberg reports:
Pasternak, the company’s chief executive officer, wants to be the first to harness helium for multi-ton deliveries. He envisions thousands of 500-foot-long zeppelins capable of traversing the U.S. at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, ferrying mining equipment to roadless stretches of Alaska and bringing organic strawberries to gourmet supermarkets in Manhattan, at a quarter the cost of a cargo plane.
Now all this guy needs is $3 billion to build his fleet of futuristic modern blimps. Just imagine: looking up in the sky and seeing blimps. Sounds cool, right? Just some big old blimps, floating as easy as can be.
Blimps!
[Bloomberg. Photo: AP]