Dec 24 2007Luxury Airship Filled With Helium, Rich People
The 'Manned Cloud' airship is being produced, and could be operational by next year. The helium filled craft is going to have 60 hotel rooms, cruise at 173mph, and travel the globe on non-stop 3 day journeys. No word on how much a trip will be, but I imagine in the ‘expensive as hell’ range. Not that I'd ever get on that thing. Helium, while an inert gas, still scares the shit out of me. I mean think what it does to your voice. You want to ride an airship filled with the gas that makes you talk like you just got kicked in the nuts? I think not. If there's one thing I learned in high school chemistry it's this: eyebrows take forever to grow back.
'Manned Cloud' Airship, Around the World in Three Days [gizmodo]
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Reader Comments
1. Virginia Buff - December 24, 2007 12:02 PM
Yea I wouldn't want to go on this thing either I mean look at what happened with the Hindenburg
2. Anthony - December 24, 2007 12:08 PM
Hah. This is awesome.
And #1, if you were unaware, the Hindenburg exploded because it was filled with hydrogen, which, as we all know, is highly flammable.
This airship is no less safe than an airplane. I think it'd be fun to travel on.
3. lay-siege - December 24, 2007 1:44 PM
this ship looks like a whale! a sky-whale. i don't approve of the ship though.
While helium is a completely harmless gas and the ship is no more dangerous than other modes of transportatio, this seems like a waste of a natural resource. Helium is a non-renewable gas, meaning we can't just make more of it, or find more of it somewhere. It's used in MRI machines; it's what the superconducting magnets have to be kept in, in order for the machine to work. To use up this natural resource on some hotel in the sky is very wasteful.
4. electro^plankton - December 24, 2007 2:11 PM
That thing is awesome, like a big fat whale. I LOVE it!
5. guate6 - December 24, 2007 4:16 PM
while it "looks" neat, I agree with #3. Though it may be a plot to get a bunch of rich people, get them to sign waivers, then get them on here, make money, then have the thing go down, killing them all. Then the company takes the waivers and produce the fine print, therefore inheriting all the people's money and assets, and no more rich people. Interesting.
6. totallyawesomepants - December 25, 2007 3:52 AM
Ok, so to number 5. If the company did that, it would then mean the owners/operators/investors of the company would be superduperrich. Which is like the opposite of no rich people. Well, not the opposite. Just less. But richer. Mucho richer. Like, super-condensed-richness.
In other words you're too stupid to post. Or at least for me to read. So I'm gonna ignore you after I post this awesome comeback.
Mind you, you might be thinking that they'd share out the wealth to everyone in the world. Hah! Anyone that rich, and that smart, isn't gonna give out the money to all the slobs in the world. So, see my previous paragraph.
So, everyone else, you saw how I picked on that twelve-year-old, and on Christmas day, even? See, I'm pretty cool like that. That's why I totally deserve my name.
7. guate6 - December 25, 2007 11:28 PM
#6. wtf? You clearly fail at life and should quit. Everything I said after my first sentence was clearly me not being serious. So in this regard, you, sir, are the idiot. Also, I don't know if the twelve year old you spoke of was a reference to me or not, but if so, hah, thanks, It'd be neat to be young again.
8. TA - December 26, 2007 5:31 AM
#2
Wrong, this is a dangerous craft. Not as save as a airplane, but as save as a helicopter I would say. The issue is, if you have a problem with this thing, your going down. In an airplane you can glide. Even a big jumbo stilll has a ratio from 4 to 1 or something
9. poop - December 26, 2007 9:36 AM
i'm all excited about this one. once i release my greatest hits album on 8 track tape and cassette, in stereo, i'll be rich too!!
10. pinky - December 26, 2007 11:57 AM
This thing is probably safer than your own home. It's not going to explode like the hindenburg did. And even if you run out of power, you'd just drift slowly to the ground for a soft touchdown.
Helium is extremely abundant! No worries that we're about to run out any time in the next billion years.
Blimps are extremely energy efficient. And this one looks great! I want one.
11. lol - December 27, 2007 1:43 PM
gimme some harpoons!
12. Jsmith - March 5, 2008 2:22 AM
The worst airship disaster of all time was the crash of the USS Akron in the Atlantic in 1933. Of the 76 man crew, only three survived.
The Akron was filled with helium as were her sister ships, Macon, Los Angeles and Shenandoah.
Of these ships, the Los Angeles was the only one that did'nt crash and kill part of its crew.
Even so, I'd like to fly in one of those giants.