The Future of Airships

Oh my heavens!

The latest issue of dwell magazine had a small article on how airships could be making a comeback! They can carry more than planes can, and they can move faster than ships can. They don't require nearly the same infrastructure as many other forms of transport. They don't fly so high as to hurt one's eardrums, they are more energy-efficient. The article did say that a Los Angeles to New York flight would take 24 hours instead of what I believe is currently a 6 hours. So okay, although a new airship would be slower than a plane, it would still be faster than a train, yet still be close enough to the ground to see things.

As my beloved and I travelled to and from Charleston recently, we fantasized about what the trip could be like in airships. Maybe we could have boarded the ship from a landing pad right at Union Station, or at the combination helipad on top of a skyscraper. Maybe we could have had a cozy sleeper like on the Amtrak long-distance trains, and meals in a dining room, and no ear pain. There would probably have been plenty of meandering stops on the way. Maybe the ship would have been made of nylon and Kevlar.... The ideas go on and on.

We would like to see a future of quiet enviromentally sound airships hauling people and cargo about the country, as easy as trains, more flexible than buses.