Talk:3298: Aerospace Flowchart

Let's go, f1rst p0st and draft! RadiantRainwing (talk) 23:19, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

Wow. That's great. Do you feel proud of yourself? Congratuations.

(Of course, i'm just joking around. Take whatever i say with a pound of salt (inside of your wound)).

(Yes. This joke is meta.) 108.227.177.69 02:21, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

The joke is always Meta. Doomvox (talk) 18:31, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be a "Yes" arrow out of the decision diamond? Barmar (talk) 23:39, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

No. Try another solution. 78.151.45.228 23:45, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

The point of the comic is it is never true but engineers would like it to be a solution. Somewhere I have stock in the Conrad Airship Company. Conrad Airship CA 80 Lordpishky (talk) 00:14, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

Nope. All roads lead to disappointed engineers. 108.227.177.69 01:30, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

The "Yes" problem is that I've got a pilot license and really, desperately, want one. 134.41.251.236 12:07, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

BTW, the main reason that airships are (almost?) never the solution is that they are too sensitive to atmospheric conditions: for instance, strong headwinds increase travel time by a lot, while jet airliners suffer only a minor decrease in speed. Also, wind limits for taking off and landing are lower, so in rough conditions the trips might have to be cancelled, etc. So the operator can't offer a reliable service with regular schedules. It is the same problem for passenger sailing ships. Rps (talk) 15:01, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

Yes to "Use it to depict fiction". 2001:4C4E:1C17:1000:FD1A:E954:BA4E:A8A1 07:51, 16 September 2026 (UTC)

Things that airships are well suited for: flight profiles that call for exceptionally long loiter time, exploding spectacularly, getting to Paradise Falls. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 15:34, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

I've got the *perfect* scheme for Airships: medium distance public transit in the SF Bay Area, where the weather is extremely mild and hills and bodies of water create barriers to travel. The next big thing (after the AI data center flame-out) is going to be commuting to Silicon Valley from Santa Cruz by airship. But we need to refurbish the old Moffet Field hangers and restore them to their intended purpose. And only the hoi polloi will try to get to Burning Man by *car*. Doomvox (talk) 18:19, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

It's not very long ago that the Goodyear Blimp (retired in 2017) was used to fly over sporting events (usually football games) and flash advertising and provide overhead video of the action on the field for television broadcasts. Of course drones are now used for that purpose. Goodyear has recently partnered with Zeppelin to use their semi-rigid air-ships for the same purpose and Zeppelin itself uses them for sightseeing excursions around European cities. There is something particularly unique to the experience of quietly floating slowly and looking down on terrain and cities that many tourists would find attractive. It doesn't compare to using a drone transmit arial views to someone standing on the ground. Even helicopters or small aircraft cannot duplicate the feeling. So the comic is not completely accurate. There is still some purpose that cannot be provided by other technology. Rtanenbaum (talk) 22:02, 15 September 2026 (UTC)

I'm kind of surprised nobody has done a hybrid between airship and drone technology to lessen the energy needs of a drone. Seebert (talk) 15:41, 16 September 2026 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_1_(airship) regularly flies over the San Francisco Bay. 2601:646:8F00:111B:F91B:AF94:495D:6FA5 15:52, 16 September 2026 (UTC)

It might be attractive to theorize a rigid airship filled not with gas but with nothing i.e. having vacuum inside, which would just float up to the upper atmosphere (i.e. space) with no propulsion. But getting into the problem, it appears there's no known material rigid enough to withstand the pressure difference at sea level while being light enough for the average density of the whole ship to be less than air density. It might be just a naive transposition of the idea of sea vessels made of materials more dense than water (steel, or even concrete), but still floating... -- 195.234.21.247 09:30, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Well this one seems quite topical for my daily grind. 130.76.25.47 12:55, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

I do not know if this was intentional -- but I find the geometrical form of the flowchart suspicious similar to a schematic diagram of a rocket: Fuel and oxidizer comes in from the top and leaves as spreading exhaust at the bottom. Does anyone else see that? --2003:CF:B748:1A96:218A:6FFD:BFF2:63AC 22:29, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

"These vessels were the only practical method of directed human flight for over a century". Not really. The first fully controlled airship flight was in 1884 (La France), and commercial flight with airplanes started in 1914. That's 30 years. 129.240.26.13 09:34, 29 September 2026 (UTC)