OH THE HUE MANITY!
Posted on 04/18/2014 6:49:10 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
....“The technological problems with airships that have stopped them ruling the skies have been gradually ticked off,” says Mr. Durham, technical director of Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), which makes the Airlander.” Advances in materials, avionics and aerodynamic design mean that we have overcome the lion’s share of these obstacles. This craft is part airship, part aircraft and part hovercraft. We have taken the best aspects of each machine and combined them in one hyper-efficient vehicle. Let me tell you, this isn’t the Hindenburg.”...
A future design called Airlander 50 will lift 50 tons of cargo, five times more than a Chinook helicopter, but costing less. And while a typical military helicopter needs two days of maintenance out of every seven, the Airlander requires one day a month. The new airship is also friendly to the environment, doing the same job as a conventional aircraft on a quarter of the fuel....
The Americans pumped pounds 60 million into the business after the airship was selected as a surveillance platform, intended to loiter for weeks at a time over Afghanistan, providing constant coverage of the battlefield.
The Airlander first flew in 2012 in America, but trials ceased when the programme fell victim to the sequestration crisis on Capitol Hill and was cancelled....
The Airlander’s hull is made from super-strong fibres developed for the sails of America’s Cup yachts. A four-inch-wide strip can support a family car. “Materials technology had to come of age before you could make this kind of aircraft,” says Mr. Durham. “Vectran, which is one of the materials we use, is similar to Kevlar.”....
“In the extremely unlikely event it lost all its engines, the effect would be rather less dramatic than on a Boeing 747 — it would simply glide down to earth.”....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Wouldn’t someone from Led Zepplin be more appropriate?
Really? I didn’t know there was a contest, but I read “Iron Maiden” and saw a photo of Moochelle’s ass filling up a hangar, and the first thing I thought of was the refrain from Iron Maiden’s (now) most famous song, “Run to the hills/ Run for your lives!”
In fact, “Enslaving the young and destroying the old/ Run to the hills/ Run for your lives!”
Hehe, nice one too!
“Bruce Dickinson was Iron Maiden’s frontman; he’s a fencing master, a military historian and a licensed pilot. He’s also an avid soccer player.
Is there anything this guy doesn’t do?”
Coolest guys in the last 50 years, Bruce Dickinson and William Smith (the actor).
Concerning this thread, I really wish Lemmy were a pilot too so we could expand the conversation.
In addition to the other accomplishments listed above, Bruce has also published at least one novel.
He is.....The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Hehe, that there is a good music reference too.
Propulsion unit.
And a whole lot more slowly, especially when the wind is up.
Sing?
Oh, great. Now I got The Trooper stuck in my head. BTT
They SHOULD paint Eddie on it.
He still is their frontman.
He’s also a published author and screenwriter, and part-time TV presenter. He’s done some shows for the Discovery Channel.
Fencing master is accurate. He was offered a spot on the UK Olympic team, but turned it down.
And not just a licensed pilot, but a commercial pilot to boot. He’s flown British soldiers home once or twice.
And he’s captain of Ed Force One, the band’s own commercial plane, transporting the band, crew and all equipment across the globe on whirlwind tours.
That’s bad @ss!
It’s bad enough that it looks like a butt... did they have to put hemoroids around the anus?
It does look like the south side of a north bound FLOTUS, doesn’t it?
OH THE HUE MANITY!
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