This would be a great way of getting supplies into disaster areas. A chain of them can carry water to fire areas. I see serious potential for commuter traffic like Chicago had between O'Hare and Miggs
@@allswellinendwell6957 Yes, but it's not just people, there's also 10 chairs, 10 windows, 10 people's worth of floors and cabin panels etc. While carrying cargo, all those could be removed and replaced with a couple of hooks and pins.
They have an R/C version, which is enough to demonstrate the concept functions. To me is convincing that building such a craft is possible. Doesn't convince me that it would be practical or economically viable. To build a full-scale version they need more money, which is what they're hoping to get by putting out this video.
@@quillmaurer6563 I agree, their is nothing new with the physics, all it is a blimp that is faster and has some new marketing. for example, they say it is plumet proof. One seem breaks and it *will* plumet out of the sky.
@@jearlblah5169 From what I could tell it's sort of a cross between a blimp and a plane. A blimp is neutrally buoyant (or very close to it), thus when "landed" has hardly any weight on the ground (I once saw a video of someone picking up the Goodyear blimp with one hand) and if stopped would just hang in the air. This has some lift through buoyancy but less than it's weight, and needs aerodynamic lift to remain aloft, though a good portion of it's lift comes from the gas bag. Not clear what the proportions are, but this allows for a smaller gas bag than a blimp but doesn't need as much runway as a plane or could have VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) more easily - it's somewhere between the two both in concept and capability. It also avoids the need for complicated buoyancy control systems to maintain neutral. I think this one can take off and land vertically using vertical thrust, lifted by a combination of propellers and buoyancy. I've heard of numerous proposals for a craft of this sort, though I'm not aware of any having been in production. As for "plummet proof" they're comparing it against other VTOL-capable craft, such as helicopters or envisioned multirotor concepts (basically large manned drones), which would fall like a brick if they lost power or rotors fail (though any manned craft would have so much redundancy that would be extremely unlikely). This, if all power were lost, would fall fairly slowly due to the buoyancy countering some of the weight and drag from the large gas bag acting as a parachute of sorts to slow descent, and it could probably glide like a plane to a controlled landing. If there were a massive rupture I suppose it would plummet, but that is extremely uncommon, not sure I've ever heard of that happening to a blimp or other lighter-than-air craft. These aren't party balloons. Wouldn't be "popped" if a hole were to be punched in it - I've heard the Goodyear Blimps can - and have - withstand small arms fire without serious problems, the holes are so small relative to the total volume the lost gas is insignificant, at least for a while.
Y'all are acting like it isn't just a weather balloon on a fan but it is super badass and makes me wi we lived in a world were blimps were actually used because they cool af
They all crashed back in the day. They had no defense against downward wind shear. Although, I always thought that the design of the "Iron Vulture" airship from "Talespin" would be able to overcome wind shear. Also, why couldn't you put some dry rocket engines on the side to push back against it. Like model rocket motors. One time use. They had a navy program back in 1980ish where they used those, to stop a C-130 quickly, so it could land on an aircraft carrier, without sliding off the end. There is a video of it. It's pretty awesome. Nowadays they only use those Dry rockets to help the C-130 takeoff quickly; in airshows mostly. Reference: Fat Albert C-130 JATO. You can make your own dry rocket engines out of powdered sugar and stump dissolver. There's a YT video for THAT too! 🤯
I call my Mainecoon cat Plimp because shes plump and when she lays down she retracts her legs, so she just kinda looks like a blimp. Came here to see if it was even a real thing. Im pleased. I also call her Cumuloplimbus when she looks fluffy. Her name is Lightning so that works great.
Honestly the cargo applications are what make airships really attractive. It drives the costs way down if it's only using fuel to move forward instead of mostly using it to not fall
Seems to me I read a book on the history of airships about 25 years ago. A lot of crashes not many of them were ever made slow no brakes they actually used anchors. It's like flying cars a little thought and you realize they don't make much sense.
50+ miles per hour Wind gusts will be the challenge for this kind of Airship always! you will need much bigger engines to overcome them wind gusts especially with the 140 ft Model!
Most light aircraft including small planes and helicopters will find 50+ mph wind gusts challenging... A model that spends some payload on big engines would be cool... Sporty!
Omg I want to ride in one of those! This is truly wonderful innovative design and I can see a great future ahead for this inspirational company. The way we travel by air now is just as bad as taking a bus. Noisy polluting outdated expensive technology that can be replaced with this? It's a no-brainer! Congratulations on a great promotional video.
Thanks, Ross! It was a pleasure editing this together for Egan Airships. Let me know if you're ever in search of someone to edit a promo video for you!
I bet that thing is a lot more affordable than an helicopter, price of which comes with some drawbacks... Also, I don't see why it would be such an hard thing to just but stronger motors on that thing...
@@T12J7 In a single word, WIND... It's an airship, it has a gas bag filled with helium for its lift. The "size" of the bag works against you in the wind as well as landing. What is going to "hold" it on the ground when the design is a "Lighter-Than-Air" aircraft? Helium is rare and very expensive, so you are not going to dump it at the end of every landing. The equipment to suck the helium out of the bags and "store" it would be way too heavy to build in the craft.
Thaaats - quite a pricetag. If you can fly 8 passengers a flight, the machine costs 6 mill, and lets assume 30 DOllars a ticket, the plimp would need to be able to generate 25 000 flights in its lifetime. which is a little ridiculous in aeronautics. Raise the pricetag to a 150 dollars - people pay that for city watching fights, right? - you still need 5000 fully every-seat paid-for flights and still only have earned the initial price of the unit, not running costst, hangar time, mechanic work and crew salaries that stock up during those 5000 flights. I do love the view of this airship-like machine, but it needs to get much, much cheaper or I dont see any future there.
@@nilesbutler8638 - Got it! $12 Million (Purchase Plus Operating Cost - Estimate) = $300 per Ticket for 8 Seats for 5,000 Flights! Comparison - an "Introductory Flight" for the Private Pilots License, in Brampton, Ontario (North West of Toronto) costs $140.00 for "a 15 to 20-minute flight" with just 1 person on board! They also offer a “MEGA” SIGHTSEEING FLIGHT, for $300.00 (for first Hour) for up to 3 people! However, There are Hundreds of Airports that have Flight Training, in North America, if not Thousands! How Many Places, over the next 20 years, might you see one of these "Plimps" available for a Sight Seeing Flight? I doubt very many, meaning this would be a very special experience, and hard to get many places! Operate this in Places that offer Cruise Ship Ports, as an "Excursion" tied to the Cruise Ship Industry, Primarily, for a "Special Excursion" for the Local area with those Passengers, booked on the Ship itself! Add a "Few Go Pro Cameras" and Sell Videos of the Trip to the Passengers!
In high winds, even a classical plane can crash. With big engines, and a computerized control (drone-like), this can be quite stable even in big winds.
Exactly. I've worked with aerostats, and all that surface area is one helluva big sail when the wind picks up. And 85mph? Maybe ground speed if you're running downwind...
I'd like a tiny one, for just one person, with a top airspeed of just 10 km/h. Lovely for sightseeing. Like a hot air balon with a greater degree of control.
@@timhofstetter5654 baffled chambers each at approximately 1 atmosphere, and comprising slightly less then 10% of the total volume of the torus envelope. 15% hydrogen/85% helium is considered nonflammable, and hydrogen could be produced by electrical hydrolysis powered by a photovoltaic exterior coating of the torus (donut shaped) envelope. So first ya' list a bit, then you land, then you patch, then you refill with hydrogen, if in a remote location and under emergency conditions. I wonder if Kevlar & rip-stop layer could be integrated into the envelope fabric. Most amorphous coatings I've seen are black and so would absorb sunlight and warm the enclosed gases, yielding slightly greater buoyancy or countering convective cooling of the envelope at higher altitudes or extreme northern latitudes. An outermost transparent coating of low thermal conductivity would help prevent convective cooling of the envelope as well. Perhaps there will be helium tanks of Fullerene or graphene so one spare tank of helium could carried as a back up.
@@buttafan4010 You'd need one of two things: First choice would be a very large, heavy spare-gas tank which would ruin the economical nature of the plimp. This tank would handle some reasonable pressure, say ten atmospheres. Second choice would be a somewhat smaller spare-gas tank that would handle far greater pressure, perhaps thirty or forty atmospheres, but in order to handle that much pressure the tank walls would need to be much thicker so you wouldn't actually realize any particular weight benefit; again your economy would suffer badly from the extra weight. You'd also need a steady supply of commercial oil-free hyrdogen-helium mix because the valves in these spare-gas tanks cannot physically be made leakproof; they always dribble gas. No way around it because of the size of the gas' atoms; they can slip between the atoms of any metal or plastic or any other solid with relative ease. And... you'd need to constantly check your spare-gas tank's pressure, topping off (by some means ?!?!?) that pressure before taking any trip. The thought of a hyrdogen generator would be intriguing except that you would need to carry a supply of water from which to strip oxygen atoms... and you would need to have some means of pressurizing this hydrogen from one atmosphere to a minimum of ten atmospheres. That's quite a feat if one is to accomplish it on demand in the back woods of Minnesota at -30F... especially since that compression must must must be performed quite perfectly spark-free.
@@timhofstetter5654 @Tim Hofstetter Thanks ... I launch ideas like conceptual skeet shoots. Now the following text is formatted for the comment section spacing - please access the plimp page listed at top. If I was refilling a patched baffled chamber, wouldn't it only have to have a pressure of 1 atmosphere? Airships described on engineer feeler sites are the size of the super dome and have the lifting capacity of a small freighter ... indeed could have carried all the Katrina refugees there who were shouting help US ... out of harms way. Even an amorphous pv surface coating could produce over 50,000 watts - enough to run led refugee camp lights, power a clinic /war refugee field hospital ... and ... a live streamed celebrity benefit concert sound system and stage lights taboot. (These ain't Plimps) 4.bp.blogspot.com/-j6P5ikhNH9U/T2ffR5ObNKI/AAAAAAAAAHI/Pv55mBb4cek/s1600/Watertest+airship+house.jpg 2.bp.blogspot.com/-uM1LXTAnhXY/T2f6KPZZa5I/AAAAAAAAAJw/PASYblaiTsw/s1600/future-blimps.jpg vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/worldofjaymz/images/9/9a/Airship_cruiseliner.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150531131556 The 9 Trillion pilfered from H.U.D. funding and misappropriated missing trillions of Pentagon spending could have created an armada of such rescue airships ... of 21st century design ... if not under this paradigm in this universe ... perhaps another. . *RISE UP ... AND TO THE RESCUE!* www.appropedia.org/w/images/5/5f/RISE_UP_AND_TO_THE_RESCUE_OF_MANKIND_%21.jpg
@@buttafan4010 A Plimp would need [pressure a little higher than 1 atmosphere, but you certainly wouldn't want your spare-gas tank to be the size of five baffles (accounting for safety factor)! You'd want it to be some manageable size. As to carrying capacity... refer to the Goodyear blimp and to the Hindenberg for volume versus loft. Refer further to helium ballons for support of your findings. Don't expect any more than extant LTA loft. And... as to photovoltaic, you cannot expect to get any photovoltaic from less-than-optimal full-sun flights. If you're going to transport people, then you need assurance that at any time you can bring them home safely. That precludes the use of photovoltaic panels because they don't offer, and can never offer, that sort of assurance. In addition, even under optimal conditions you cannot expect a plimp-sized photovoltaic system (the cost of which would be astronomical) to produce 50,000 usable watts. No way nohow. Last... can you actually imagine a plimp in a hurricane? Or even a 20mph side wind? It'd move like a dandelion seed, totally captivated by the wind.
It must be a bit tricky to land with "no ground crew" if it's windy! Just imagine bringing it down in these conditions ... th-cam.com/video/w4EQuM_t8Fo/w-d-xo.html ... then hop out with a tether and tie it to a bollard!
I had to laugh when the "CEO" used the term "ultra-safe". I was like, 'Are they really talking about sailing this thing 1300 miles for 20 hours without encountering any heavy gusts of wind?'
Talk about "reinventing the wheel"!....Blimps again, huh?.....How are they in the wind?...Not good, huh?...Yeah, I've heard that's a problem. But I thought the green and brown, camouflaged one....in the sky.....for military missions was an especially clever idea....genius
The military had "lighter-than-air" airships for a number of years and all are gone due to cost and mainly due to the very limited use one has in normal winds. Small and large drones are the future.
I'm Jamal "Ice" James with Pimp Ind. I'm here to tell you about our new pimpin mode of transportation. Introducing the Plimp. Able to seat you and 5 other hos you'll be pimpin the skies in style. Dont settle for the standard jet, hell when's the last time you heard of blimps flying into buildings or magically disappearing? The Plimp *Now with 30 inches of gold spinning rims baby*
Costly blimp, lacking the power for anything besides fair-weather flying with short ranges and light loads. Its only real difference from zeppelins and blimps is that it has wings attached to a separate undercarriage to provide some lift, (rather than using the outer skin of the zeppelin or blimp as its "wing"). I don't think that qualifies this hybrid invention as a "first innovation" in aviation history since the helicopter. Nothing prevents this aircraft from plummeting into the ground, if its helium envelope, (#202 in the patent), is ruptured. Maybe better than tourist helicopter flights over Vegas, but a wind gust could blow it off-course easily. $1,000 to be vetted for a lease application for an aircraft that's not FAA certified?
"Nothing prevents this aircraft from plummeting into the ground, if its helium envelope, (#202 in the patent), is ruptured." Descending, yes, plummeting no. Unless the cabin FALLS OFF of the balloon. Airships don't do that. Especially not airships that can vector their thrust downward.
@@macrumpton that’s right, it’s not. It’s much bigger than a comparable airplane, and lighter, making it much more susceptible to turbulent winds. Hence I used the example of an airplane ✈️ because if an airplane can’t handle it, a blimp definitely can’t. To think a blimp could handle 80mph is, not to be mean, a little off the deep end
Actually, airships were used in nearly every war from the US Civil War (hot air ballons) on. The US NAVY flew them when I was a kid in the 1950s from Alameda CA for submarine hunting and several other purposes. Did you know that George Armstrong Custer almost drowned in the James River when the observation balloon he was piloting lost altitude and actually dipped the basket in the water before regaining altitude. His own Union troops almost shot him because he had ditched his heavy wet woolen uniform to reduce weight to get the balloon aloft again. He emerged from the basket in wet long johns, happy to be alive, to a greeting party of skeptical soldiers who thought he was possibly a Confederate troop. Did I mention it was winter?
Hi! Sorry. I'm not sure. This was for a contest and I only received a limited amount of videos and information from the CEO. :) But from what I can tell, I think it's the same as an airplane.
Go bigger. Airships only work if they're huge. Good call on the use of aerodynamic lift. If you make it big enough to provide a significant amount of buoyancy for the drag caused by cross-section it would be more than just a fat airplane. Which is what it is now. How much buoyancy does your model have? Wild guess on volume of the airship on the football field: treating it as a cylinder 50 meters long and 20 meters diameter (I'm being very generous), we would have around 1600 m^3. Conveniently a cubic meter of helium displaces enough air at seal level to provide about 10 N of buoyancy or enough to lift 1 kg of weight. Of course the airship itself has weight: 1000 kg? You got 600 kg of payload without fuel. Passengers and pilot, 70 kg each (and increasing year by year). So you need to provide enough aerodynamic lift to pick up 100 kgs. But really, I'm low balling it and I'm thinking you really need the aerodynamic lift of maybe a Cessna 152? You gotta lot of cross section to haul around with some pretty small motors. 83 mph? Really? Cessna 152 cruises at about 130 mph without a huge bag attached. I'm skeptical of your math. Consider: you need a bag big enough to float your engines. Then you make your engines big enough to give you the necessary speed to pull that bag and wings through the air fast enough to generate enough lift to be useful. You can make the bag and the wings into a single lifting body, and if you maximize lift rather than speed, and get the cross-section/buoyancy ratio low enough, then you got some serious cargo capacity. An airship the size of the Hindenburg could lift about 40,000 kg, that's about 10 large turbofans like on a 747. So you see the possibilities...
The only real problem with any kind of air ship design, is that you need a really large volume of gas to provide sufficient lift, but that lightweight volume, is extremely vulnerable to even moderate winds! If you are trying to go into a head wind, your journey time will be much longer, and the fuel you use accordingly more. The trick is to make the gas volume the shape of a wing, a fat wing, but maybe a compromise, against tackling headwinds. There are already designs that approximate to a wing, and provide some lift as a wing, but again, the volume of gas drives the equations!! and how effective the vessel performs! If you live in a country that has no wind, its a great way of getting about! If you live in the UK, forget it!
always seemed to me the ideal shape for a balloon would be like a flying saucer.. big flatish disc would suffer less from sidewinds i would have thought...
I can see this as a mini orbiter, where it can go to high altitude and stay on station, with solar panels, for months at a time. It could serve remote areas with media coverage where having cell towers all over is impractical. As a cruise air-ship might have some promise but very much at the mercy of the weather. But arent all aircraft? joking
1 ton cargo?? Start out making a small one that carries two people to and from their backyard when the weather is nice. The upper management is all inflated egos trying to land military contracts right away.
How cool would that be to fly in one of these to your next vacation destination vs driving? You could have it set up like a flying RV. Love the concept and the possibilities with this aircraft.
Rick the Swift I agree, these would definitely be at the mercy of the wind for sure! I like to keep my flying to calm still days, it's enough of a rush on a perfect day.
Why can't they make it air plane ✈ shaped but with larger wings filled with helium? Along with the tail section, front end & hollow walls of the plane body filled with helium. So it can almost float on it's own. But could fly much faster than blimp balloon shape, use way less fuel than regular plane & be able to easily glide in for a landing if something went wrong.
i like the idea of blimps and zeppelins i mean they existed before and seemed to be quite popular until the Hindenburg, the main problem i see if the working gas, hydrogen cheap, readily available but rather danerous if mixed with oxygen and a bit of ignition energy or even pressure, helium safe but really expensive, and both like to leak through material on the atomic level cause theyre such tiny atoms, like the smallest, thats why theyre lighter than literally every other element, theyre the least dense, not too much of a problem for hydrogen because of cost but danger probably not too much of a problem for modern materials so helium probably ist too much of a problem but the environmental temperature may be you problem always changing your gas pressure thus your buoyancy in the air all in all helium make wallet go boom boom hydrogen make you go boom boom pressure changes make sky fish no float properly in air water
_It's soft, squishy, round and bulbous!_ _It deserves its own theme music! Heck, it deserves its own genre!!_ _The Future is Now! And you can't resist the _*_P L I M P T A T I O N!!_*
You built an RC model of a hybrid airship and you're already talking about manned vehicles? You're kinda putting the drag before the thrust on this one, if I might say so. That said, I love the concept of hybrid airships, and I hope you see great success in this venture.
Can be improved with solar panel but still need ground crew for weigt ballast when passanger disembark or unloading. Would use hydrogen and a compressor to reduce lift without wasting the lifting gas.
This thing needs to go to Congo Kiwu; rich mining region but virtually no roads. all goods have to be transported by military trucks or flows in by plane, food and all. there, you could make a profit transporting stuff 1 ton of food would sell for a lot.
Cool project. The problem with companies like this is they aim too high and thus don't go anywhere. Instead of developing a massive blimp with all kinds of high-falutin' applications, they should have developed a small one for personal or private recreational use. Kind of like going boating, but in the air. You know? Make it for one or two occupants, tops. With the balloon being maybe, I don't know, 20 feet long or whatever. And then sell it for the price of, say, a brand new Ford Mustang. Not $100,000, which no one will buy. Get the project off the ground (pun intended) and make some money. Then you can finance part of it yourself and plausibly attract more investors.
Convert one into a motorhome! Hell yeah blimp house!
Yeah plimp my house
Now that is one awesome idea Sir
It would just be grounded
Sorry, helium shortage. No Plimp for you.
She's a BLIMP....ba da da daaa HOUSE....ba da daaa da da-da
Two years ago they had a scale model. What has happened since?
Nothing. See their website: two years after your comment, there's still no content... because they haven't built anything.
Like a yacht in the sky
This would be a great way of getting supplies into disaster areas. A chain of them can carry water to fire areas. I see serious potential for commuter traffic like Chicago had between O'Hare and Miggs
"Miggs"...(?)...did you mean to say "Midway" becasue "Meigs/Meigs Field" is longggg gone :'(
🤗🤗🤗
"Carries ten people & 1 ton of cargo" - shows off RC model...
Oh ok its is a model, it looked like one but they don't mention it being one
Or 1 ton of cargo. It will be available by Jan. 17, 2395.
10 people or 1 ton of cargo... except the math doesn't add up. Industry-standard for an adult male in aviation is 200 lbs...
@@allswellinendwell6957 Yes, but it's not just people, there's also 10 chairs, 10 windows, 10 people's worth of floors and cabin panels etc. While carrying cargo, all those could be removed and replaced with a couple of hooks and pins.
@@allswellinendwell6957 100kg (high average already if you include women) x 10 is 1 ton..
I wish they made it work first and ONLY then started talking sh*t.
They have an R/C version, which is enough to demonstrate the concept functions. To me is convincing that building such a craft is possible. Doesn't convince me that it would be practical or economically viable. To build a full-scale version they need more money, which is what they're hoping to get by putting out this video.
@@quillmaurer6563 I agree, their is nothing new with the physics, all it is a blimp that is faster and has some new marketing.
for example, they say it is plumet proof. One seem breaks and it *will* plumet out of the sky.
@@jearlblah5169 From what I could tell it's sort of a cross between a blimp and a plane. A blimp is neutrally buoyant (or very close to it), thus when "landed" has hardly any weight on the ground (I once saw a video of someone picking up the Goodyear blimp with one hand) and if stopped would just hang in the air. This has some lift through buoyancy but less than it's weight, and needs aerodynamic lift to remain aloft, though a good portion of it's lift comes from the gas bag. Not clear what the proportions are, but this allows for a smaller gas bag than a blimp but doesn't need as much runway as a plane or could have VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) more easily - it's somewhere between the two both in concept and capability. It also avoids the need for complicated buoyancy control systems to maintain neutral. I think this one can take off and land vertically using vertical thrust, lifted by a combination of propellers and buoyancy. I've heard of numerous proposals for a craft of this sort, though I'm not aware of any having been in production.
As for "plummet proof" they're comparing it against other VTOL-capable craft, such as helicopters or envisioned multirotor concepts (basically large manned drones), which would fall like a brick if they lost power or rotors fail (though any manned craft would have so much redundancy that would be extremely unlikely). This, if all power were lost, would fall fairly slowly due to the buoyancy countering some of the weight and drag from the large gas bag acting as a parachute of sorts to slow descent, and it could probably glide like a plane to a controlled landing. If there were a massive rupture I suppose it would plummet, but that is extremely uncommon, not sure I've ever heard of that happening to a blimp or other lighter-than-air craft. These aren't party balloons. Wouldn't be "popped" if a hole were to be punched in it - I've heard the Goodyear Blimps can - and have - withstand small arms fire without serious problems, the holes are so small relative to the total volume the lost gas is insignificant, at least for a while.
Crowd fund us, because professional investors won’t give us a dime!
Plimp my ride!!!!
Ha! Plimping ain't easy..
It's hard out there for a Plimp...
Y'all are acting like it isn't just a weather balloon on a fan but it is super badass and makes me wi we lived in a world were blimps were actually used because they cool af
They all crashed back in the day. They had no defense against downward wind shear. Although, I always thought that the design of the "Iron Vulture" airship from "Talespin" would be able to overcome wind shear. Also, why couldn't you put some dry rocket engines on the side to push back against it. Like model rocket motors. One time use. They had a navy program back in 1980ish where they used those, to stop a C-130 quickly, so it could land on an aircraft carrier, without sliding off the end. There is a video of it. It's pretty awesome. Nowadays they only use those Dry rockets to help the C-130 takeoff quickly; in airshows mostly. Reference: Fat Albert C-130 JATO.
You can make your own dry rocket engines out of powdered sugar and stump dissolver. There's a YT video for THAT too!
🤯
@@thediplomasta5891 wings would solve that problem, how easy. Future of transport I might even make a small personal one for myself.
@@JtjHh Or use the balloon itself as a lifting body.
They don't cool. They actually fly. Fans cool!
I am surprised and slightly alarmed that someone would, in sound mind (debatable), recommend using solid rockets on a cloth machine.
I call my Mainecoon cat Plimp because shes plump and when she lays down she retracts her legs, so she just kinda looks like a blimp. Came here to see if it was even a real thing. Im pleased. I also call her Cumuloplimbus when she looks fluffy. Her name is Lightning so that works great.
Honestly the cargo applications are what make airships really attractive. It drives the costs way down if it's only using fuel to move forward instead of mostly using it to not fall
this is a genius idea and would be very popular in the radio controlled modelling hobby!
Thought of this years ago. Massive wind issues. The float is basically a sail.
Seems to me I read a book on the history of airships about
25 years ago. A lot of crashes not many of them were ever made
slow no brakes they actually used anchors. It's like flying cars
a little thought and you realize they don't make much sense.
@@geoh1896 flying cars have always made more sense than traditional rigid frame airships.
My thoughts also. Low power, massive wind load. No bueno.
My worry would be if that balloon popped at altitude above ground they would be scrapping you off the ground into little bitty bags
/I came here to ask that very question : what about wind? And updrafts? And precipitation? The whole thing seems flimsy and impractical.
A really great video, thank you for this submission and the four translations! - James Egan
Thank you for the opportunity to edit for you!
so cool
No way our oligarchy going to allow you plebs low cost , autonomous flight.
We already have it, paramotors.
50+ miles per hour Wind gusts will be the challenge for this kind of Airship always! you will need much bigger engines to overcome them wind gusts especially with the 140 ft Model!
Most light aircraft including small planes and helicopters will find 50+ mph wind gusts challenging... A model that spends some payload on big engines would be cool... Sporty!
Omg I want to ride in one of those! This is truly wonderful innovative design and I can see a great future ahead for this inspirational company. The way we travel by air now is just as bad as taking a bus. Noisy polluting outdated expensive technology that can be replaced with this? It's a no-brainer! Congratulations on a great promotional video.
Thanks, Ross! It was a pleasure editing this together for Egan Airships. Let me know if you're ever in search of someone to edit a promo video for you!
Up here in the north of Canada I routinely encounter winds aloft of over 30 knots under 10,000. Unless your airship can make 80 kts you are screwed.
I bet that thing is a lot more affordable than an helicopter, price of which comes with some drawbacks... Also, I don't see why it would be such an hard thing to just but stronger motors on that thing...
@@T12J7 In a single word, WIND...
It's an airship, it has a gas bag filled with helium for its lift. The "size" of the bag works against you in the wind as well as landing. What is going to "hold" it on the ground when the design is a "Lighter-Than-Air" aircraft? Helium is rare and very expensive, so you are not going to dump it at the end of every landing. The equipment to suck the helium out of the bags and "store" it would be way too heavy to build in the craft.
"Egan Airships. Because we don't have enough advertising already"
This is an exciting development. At four- to six-million dollars, however, I think I’ll wait for the ultralight FAR 103 version.
Thaaats - quite a pricetag.
If you can fly 8 passengers a flight, the machine costs 6 mill, and lets assume 30 DOllars a ticket, the plimp would need to be able to generate 25 000 flights in its lifetime. which is a little ridiculous in aeronautics.
Raise the pricetag to a 150 dollars - people pay that for city watching fights, right? - you still need 5000 fully every-seat paid-for flights and still only have earned the initial price of the unit, not running costst, hangar time, mechanic work and crew salaries that stock up during those 5000 flights.
I do love the view of this airship-like machine, but it needs to get much, much cheaper or I dont see any future there.
The 8 passenger version is far103 compliant. It weights less than 254 pounds.
@@nilesbutler8638 It would not be far from helicopter economics.
@@nilesbutler8638 - Got it! $12 Million (Purchase Plus Operating Cost - Estimate) = $300 per Ticket for 8 Seats for 5,000 Flights!
Comparison - an "Introductory Flight" for the Private Pilots License, in Brampton, Ontario (North West of Toronto) costs $140.00 for "a 15 to 20-minute flight" with just 1 person on board! They also offer a “MEGA” SIGHTSEEING FLIGHT, for $300.00 (for first Hour) for up to 3 people!
However, There are Hundreds of Airports that have Flight Training, in North America, if not Thousands! How Many Places, over the next 20 years, might you see one of these "Plimps" available for a Sight Seeing Flight? I doubt very many, meaning this would be a very special experience, and hard to get many places!
Operate this in Places that offer Cruise Ship Ports, as an "Excursion" tied to the Cruise Ship Industry, Primarily, for a "Special Excursion" for the Local area with those Passengers, booked on the Ship itself! Add a "Few Go Pro Cameras" and Sell Videos of the Trip to the Passengers!
What if this could be scaled down to single occupant?
First they'd have to scale it up to what they're promising.
Already exists, a deck chair and a trip to your local party hire store.
WOW they invented a new Hindenburger and name it Plimp, it sure have a Great future!
Hindenburg had hydrogen in it. Not helium.
So... It's been almost 8 freaking yrs since this video and still no prototype
Imagine these in high winds
YEEEHAAA
In high winds, even a classical plane can crash.
With big engines, and a computerized control (drone-like), this can be quite stable even in big winds.
Just wait until it's blowing in the direction you want to travel...simples.
Exactly. I've worked with aerostats, and all that surface area is one helluva big sail when the wind picks up. And 85mph? Maybe ground speed if you're running downwind...
@@TheAngryEagle It could probably go a lot faster than 85mph after some kid with Daisy air rifle puts a couple of holes in it...
I'd like a tiny one, for just one person, with a top airspeed of just 10 km/h. Lovely for sightseeing. Like a hot air balon with a greater degree of control.
I believe I've seen this type of aircraft before..
Para bounce did something very similar.
The comedian Gallagher had one.
Do some research on Santos Dumont airships circa 1898-1909. You will notice a strong similarity in approach by the Plimp.
Anyone who thinks this is a serious company should check out the joke of a website. It's still just Egan's childhood fantasy.
Disaster Aid To Remote Regions Without Roads, Without Airports ... and Without Permission!
...and without any backup helium supply, should you (even slightly!) snag that precious envelope...
@@timhofstetter5654 baffled chambers each at approximately 1 atmosphere, and comprising slightly less then 10% of the total volume of the torus envelope. 15% hydrogen/85% helium is considered nonflammable, and hydrogen could be produced by electrical hydrolysis powered by a photovoltaic exterior coating of the torus (donut shaped) envelope. So first ya' list a bit, then you land, then you patch, then you refill with hydrogen, if in a remote location and under emergency conditions. I wonder if Kevlar & rip-stop layer could be integrated into the envelope fabric. Most amorphous coatings I've seen are black and so would absorb sunlight and warm the enclosed gases, yielding slightly greater buoyancy or countering convective cooling of the envelope at higher altitudes or extreme northern latitudes. An outermost transparent coating of low thermal conductivity would help prevent convective cooling of the envelope as well.
Perhaps there will be helium tanks of Fullerene or graphene so one spare tank of helium could carried as a back up.
@@buttafan4010 You'd need one of two things:
First choice would be a very large, heavy spare-gas tank which would ruin the economical nature of the plimp. This tank would handle some reasonable pressure, say ten atmospheres.
Second choice would be a somewhat smaller spare-gas tank that would handle far greater pressure, perhaps thirty or forty atmospheres, but in order to handle that much pressure the tank walls would need to be much thicker so you wouldn't actually realize any particular weight benefit; again your economy would suffer badly from the extra weight.
You'd also need a steady supply of commercial oil-free hyrdogen-helium mix because the valves in these spare-gas tanks cannot physically be made leakproof; they always dribble gas. No way around it because of the size of the gas' atoms; they can slip between the atoms of any metal or plastic or any other solid with relative ease.
And... you'd need to constantly check your spare-gas tank's pressure, topping off (by some means ?!?!?) that pressure before taking any trip.
The thought of a hyrdogen generator would be intriguing except that you would need to carry a supply of water from which to strip oxygen atoms... and you would need to have some means of pressurizing this hydrogen from one atmosphere to a minimum of ten atmospheres. That's quite a feat if one is to accomplish it on demand in the back woods of Minnesota at -30F... especially since that compression must must must be performed quite perfectly spark-free.
@@timhofstetter5654 @Tim Hofstetter Thanks ... I launch ideas like conceptual skeet shoots. Now the following text is formatted for the comment section spacing - please access the plimp page listed at top.
If I was refilling a patched baffled chamber, wouldn't it only have to have a pressure of 1 atmosphere? Airships described on engineer feeler sites are the size of the super dome and have the lifting capacity of a small freighter ... indeed could have carried all the Katrina refugees there who were shouting help US ... out of harms way. Even an amorphous pv surface coating could produce over 50,000 watts - enough to run led refugee camp lights, power a clinic
/war refugee field hospital ... and ... a live streamed celebrity benefit concert sound system and stage lights taboot. (These ain't Plimps)
4.bp.blogspot.com/-j6P5ikhNH9U/T2ffR5ObNKI/AAAAAAAAAHI/Pv55mBb4cek/s1600/Watertest+airship+house.jpg
2.bp.blogspot.com/-uM1LXTAnhXY/T2f6KPZZa5I/AAAAAAAAAJw/PASYblaiTsw/s1600/future-blimps.jpg
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/worldofjaymz/images/9/9a/Airship_cruiseliner.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150531131556
The 9 Trillion pilfered from H.U.D. funding and misappropriated missing trillions of Pentagon spending could have created an armada of such rescue airships ... of 21st century design ... if not under this paradigm in this universe ... perhaps another.
.
*RISE UP ... AND TO THE RESCUE!*
www.appropedia.org/w/images/5/5f/RISE_UP_AND_TO_THE_RESCUE_OF_MANKIND_%21.jpg
@@buttafan4010 A Plimp would need [pressure a little higher than 1 atmosphere, but you certainly wouldn't want your spare-gas tank to be the size of five baffles (accounting for safety factor)! You'd want it to be some manageable size.
As to carrying capacity... refer to the Goodyear blimp and to the Hindenberg for volume versus loft. Refer further to helium ballons for support of your findings. Don't expect any more than extant LTA loft.
And... as to photovoltaic, you cannot expect to get any photovoltaic from less-than-optimal full-sun flights. If you're going to transport people, then you need assurance that at any time you can bring them home safely. That precludes the use of photovoltaic panels because they don't offer, and can never offer, that sort of assurance.
In addition, even under optimal conditions you cannot expect a plimp-sized photovoltaic system (the cost of which would be astronomical) to produce 50,000 usable watts. No way nohow.
Last... can you actually imagine a plimp in a hurricane? Or even a 20mph side wind? It'd move like a dandelion seed, totally captivated by the wind.
Very cool! .....But what about stormy weather and gusty winds?
It must be a bit tricky to land with "no ground crew" if it's windy! Just imagine bringing it down in these conditions ...
th-cam.com/video/w4EQuM_t8Fo/w-d-xo.html
... then hop out with a tether and tie it to a bollard!
I had to laugh when the "CEO" used the term "ultra-safe". I was like, 'Are they really talking about sailing this thing 1300 miles for 20 hours without encountering any heavy gusts of wind?'
So does it have a ballonet ? And if it doesn’t, how do you do that?
Talk about "reinventing the wheel"!....Blimps again, huh?.....How are they in the wind?...Not good, huh?...Yeah, I've heard that's a problem.
But I thought the green and brown, camouflaged one....in the sky.....for military missions was an especially clever idea....genius
The military had "lighter-than-air" airships for a number of years and all are gone due to cost and mainly due to the very limited use one has in normal winds. Small and large drones are the future.
I'm Jamal "Ice" James with Pimp Ind. I'm here to tell you about our new pimpin mode of transportation. Introducing the Plimp. Able to seat you and 5 other hos you'll be pimpin the skies in style. Dont settle for the standard jet, hell when's the last time you heard of blimps flying into buildings or magically disappearing?
The Plimp
*Now with 30 inches of gold spinning rims baby*
hahaha this is underrated and gold haha P.I.M.P💲🤑💵💰💸
So where is the REAL plimpin thing! 😱🤪🤣👎👎🇺🇸
The animation is not inspiring. Please nobody give them money.
As a small drone delivery unit I can see it working as it’s more economical than a conventional drone. Just make more of these scale models.
Yup, much safer in a city than a large drone falling from the sky.
Friendly suggestion; remove the words "plummet proof" from your script.
The crew of the Titanic approves this message
Costly blimp, lacking the power for anything besides fair-weather flying with short ranges and light loads. Its only real difference from zeppelins and blimps is that it has wings attached to a separate undercarriage to provide some lift, (rather than using the outer skin of the zeppelin or blimp as its "wing"). I don't think that qualifies this hybrid invention as a "first innovation" in aviation history since the helicopter. Nothing prevents this aircraft from plummeting into the ground, if its helium envelope, (#202 in the patent), is ruptured. Maybe better than tourist helicopter flights over Vegas, but a wind gust could blow it off-course easily. $1,000 to be vetted for a lease application for an aircraft that's not FAA certified?
"Nothing prevents this aircraft from plummeting into the ground, if its helium envelope, (#202 in the patent), is ruptured."
Descending, yes, plummeting no. Unless the cabin FALLS OFF of the balloon. Airships don't do that. Especially not airships that can vector their thrust downward.
Yeah pretty nice and everything but seriously... How did you guys deal with wind? 🙃
it can fly 80+mph, so it can deal with winds less than that.
@@macrumpton an airplane that can cruise at 100 mph certainly can’t deal with 50 mph winds...
@@xpeterson its not an airplane.
@@macrumpton that’s right, it’s not. It’s much bigger than a comparable airplane, and lighter, making it much more susceptible to turbulent winds. Hence I used the example of an airplane ✈️ because if an airplane can’t handle it, a blimp definitely can’t. To think a blimp could handle 80mph is, not to be mean, a little off the deep end
@@xpeterson beautifully put and a great exponent of the gentle put down 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Looks like this business didn't take off
Invention, from the 1700s
No any news after 5 years.
I like the idea of military application. If you ignore the fact that it can be brought down with a BB gun. ✌🏻🇺🇸
It would be easy to fly above gun range.
BB would have no chance getting to the inflation sacs inside.
The Airships was used in the 1 world war, is a mistake use it again, saludos.!!!
Actually, airships were used in nearly every war from the US Civil War (hot air ballons) on. The US NAVY flew them when I was a kid in the 1950s from Alameda CA for submarine hunting and several other purposes. Did you know that George Armstrong Custer almost drowned in the James River when the observation balloon he was piloting lost altitude and actually dipped the basket in the water before regaining altitude. His own Union troops almost shot him because he had ditched his heavy wet woolen uniform to reduce weight to get the balloon aloft again. He emerged from the basket in wet long johns, happy to be alive, to a greeting party of skeptical soldiers who thought he was possibly a Confederate troop. Did I mention it was winter?
@@mikegrant8490 i was did not know, very intereting your opinion probabily more acert that my past commentary im not a expert in it aria, Cheers
"Plummet proof"...didn't they say something similar about the Titanic?
👋 Are the blimps powered by jet fuel like airplanes or some other fuel?
(For a school project)
Hi! Sorry. I'm not sure. This was for a contest and I only received a limited amount of videos and information from the CEO. :) But from what I can tell, I think it's the same as an airplane.
I decided to check out the link provided. Got a security warning about an unsafe website.
Can't imagine why...! 8)
You must change the name. Reminds of "pimp" too much. Good idea, hope it works.
The "Huggy Bear" model especially.
Go bigger. Airships only work if they're huge. Good call on the use of aerodynamic lift. If you make it big enough to provide a significant amount of buoyancy for the drag caused by cross-section it would be more than just a fat airplane. Which is what it is now. How much buoyancy does your model have? Wild guess on volume of the airship on the football field: treating it as a cylinder 50 meters long and 20 meters diameter (I'm being very generous), we would have around 1600 m^3. Conveniently a cubic meter of helium displaces enough air at seal level to provide about 10 N of buoyancy or enough to lift 1 kg of weight. Of course the airship itself has weight: 1000 kg? You got 600 kg of payload without fuel. Passengers and pilot, 70 kg each (and increasing year by year). So you need to provide enough aerodynamic lift to pick up 100 kgs. But really, I'm low balling it and I'm thinking you really need the aerodynamic lift of maybe a Cessna 152? You gotta lot of cross section to haul around with some pretty small motors. 83 mph? Really? Cessna 152 cruises at about 130 mph without a huge bag attached. I'm skeptical of your math.
Consider: you need a bag big enough to float your engines. Then you make your engines big enough to give you the necessary speed to pull that bag and wings through the air fast enough to generate enough lift to be useful. You can make the bag and the wings into a single lifting body, and if you maximize lift rather than speed, and get the cross-section/buoyancy ratio low enough, then you got some serious cargo capacity. An airship the size of the Hindenburg could lift about 40,000 kg, that's about 10 large turbofans like on a 747. So you see the possibilities...
I'll believe it when I see it in operation.
Egad, a zeppelin-based pyramid scheme?! Where do I leave my mark?
Power it with a combination of batteries and solar panels!
Pro tip: next time you're going to pitch a concept in a video, don't wear a crappy tie.
The only real problem with any kind of air ship design, is that you need a really large volume of gas to provide sufficient lift, but that lightweight volume, is extremely vulnerable to even moderate winds! If you are trying to go into a head wind, your journey time will be much longer, and the fuel you use accordingly more. The trick is to make the gas volume the shape of a wing, a fat wing, but maybe a compromise, against tackling headwinds. There are already designs that approximate to a wing, and provide some lift as a wing, but again, the volume of gas drives the equations!! and how effective the vessel performs! If you live in a country that has no wind, its a great way of getting about! If you live in the UK, forget it!
always seemed to me the ideal shape for a balloon would be like a flying saucer.. big flatish disc would suffer less from sidewinds i would have thought...
@@sceptic33 that makes sense, but is a structural nightmare.
And a small wind current would ruin your whole day.
Is be a easy taget for anti aircraft
Too bad we are running out of helium
Use hydrogen, double envelope with exterior shell of nitrogen or just les helium , drop the Hindenburg fears
I can see this as a mini orbiter, where it can go to high altitude and stay on station, with solar panels, for months at a time.
It could serve remote areas with media coverage where having cell towers all over is impractical. As a cruise air-ship might have some promise but very much at the mercy of the weather. But arent all aircraft? joking
I'm curious about maximum flight time. A solar electric version would be great for "satellite" service.
I think blimp drones are the future. It solves the main problem drones have : flight time.
if this is for real then get footage of a prototype not a remote controlled model
Great on a calm day. All the other days, not so much!
A shame they are no longer in business. Not only does it look like a great idea, the opportunities to say 'plimp my ride' are endless.
I agree. I wonder if the name is still trademarked? Could be your chance to invent something to attach to a car and call it a Plimp.
1 ton cargo?? Start out making a small one that carries two people to and from their backyard when the weather is nice. The upper management is all inflated egos trying to land military contracts right away.
This is very old technology. Good to see they are disclosing it now.
How cool would that be to fly in one of these to your next vacation destination vs driving? You could have it set up like a flying RV. Love the concept and the possibilities with this aircraft.
"plummet proof". Planes aren't plummet proof. Blimps aren't plummet proof. So why would this be plummet proof?
I would love to jump my wingsuit from one of these!
There ya go!😀
Alistair Clark Comedy and Wingsuiting, if you really want an adrenal rush, take off on a gusty day!😀
Rick the Swift I agree, these would definitely be at the mercy of the wind for sure! I like to keep my flying to calm still days, it's enough of a rush on a perfect day.
Why can't they make it air plane ✈ shaped but with larger wings filled with helium? Along with the tail section, front end & hollow walls of the plane body filled with helium. So it can almost float on it's own. But could fly much faster than blimp balloon shape, use way less fuel than regular plane & be able to easily glide in for a landing if something went wrong.
Let’s make flying saucers
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i like the idea of blimps and zeppelins i mean they existed before and seemed to be quite popular until the Hindenburg, the main problem i see if the working gas,
hydrogen cheap, readily available but rather danerous if mixed with oxygen and a bit of ignition energy or even pressure,
helium safe but really expensive,
and both like to leak through material on the atomic level cause theyre such tiny atoms, like the smallest, thats why theyre lighter than literally every other element, theyre the least dense, not too much of a problem for hydrogen because of cost but danger
probably not too much of a problem for modern materials so helium probably ist too much of a problem
but the environmental temperature may be you problem always changing your gas pressure thus your buoyancy in the air
all in all
helium make wallet go boom boom
hydrogen make you go boom boom
pressure changes make sky fish no float properly in air water
From Seattle? Place your woke advertising on our Plimps to confuse and diminish the egos of another whole generation of consumers.
PLIMP!... the tiny sound made by a remote controlled toy balloon crashing.
_It's soft, squishy, round and bulbous!_
_It deserves its own theme music! Heck, it deserves its own genre!!_
_The Future is Now! And you can't resist the _*_P L I M P T A T I O N!!_*
...wat
You built an RC model of a hybrid airship and you're already talking about manned vehicles?
You're kinda putting the drag before the thrust on this one, if I might say so.
That said, I love the concept of hybrid airships, and I hope you see great success in this venture.
I wonder if they could make it electric and plaster solar panels on it to be pretty much a free flight.
Can be improved with solar panel but still need ground crew for weigt ballast when passanger disembark or unloading. Would use hydrogen and a compressor to reduce lift without wasting the lifting gas.
We're gonna have to have Peter Sripol fast track this project. I'll buy one. I'm RICH BITCH!
Do they make containers for drinking out of? Can I actually order a Blimp Cup?!
This thing needs to go to Congo Kiwu; rich mining region but virtually no roads. all goods have to be transported by military trucks or flows in by plane, food and all. there, you could make a profit transporting stuff 1 ton of food would sell for a lot.
Just sell us drones. Easiest way to finance the big one. Those jobs (border patrol, recon) don't need humans.
Cool project. The problem with companies like this is they aim too high and thus don't go anywhere. Instead of developing a massive blimp with all kinds of high-falutin' applications, they should have developed a small one for personal or private recreational use. Kind of like going boating, but in the air. You know? Make it for one or two occupants, tops. With the balloon being maybe, I don't know, 20 feet long or whatever. And then sell it for the price of, say, a brand new Ford Mustang. Not $100,000, which no one will buy. Get the project off the ground (pun intended) and make some money. Then you can finance part of it yourself and plausibly attract more investors.
Helium is not easy to get a hold of. Global supplies of HE are running quite low these days. Buyer beware.
Helium is a scarce resource. Let's not use it for applications which have alternatives that don't use helium.
Why does the Egan airship sound familiar to a certain Bavarium mining company 🤔
Non- Intrusive Eco-Tourism and Tourist Transport Vehicle guys...
It looks like a huge egg on a spoon
Uno de mis sueños mas queridos es volar un dirigible, me imagino flotando sobre las líneas de Nazca en Perú
¡ Si, fantastico! 👍🏼
Make it so!!
But in reality this IS OIR FUTURE
Visual pollution... and ya don't suppose that these would be worthless in any sort of wind, do you? 8) 8) 8)
reconnaissance at 63 mph aka how to give your airplane to your enemy
That’s a lot of hubris for bunch cgi renderings and one RC model.
little expensive for 2 motors somme elektronic... made model for 5 peoples?
Can you make a 1-2 person version? Just want one for cruising around that I can put in the car.
Great video. Looking forward to seeing what's next. JP
These people are so out of touch with reality. Is marijuana legal in Seattle?
THERE WILL BE VERY LARGE AMOUNTS OF HELIUM FROM THE FUSION GENERATOR IN FRANCE. AT THE MOMENT THE COST OF THE HELIUM IS HIGH.
Seems like nothing has happened since 2018 when all this came out.
How much is it how fast does it go how does it handle in bad weather such as strong winds snow rain
We crowd fund because professional investors won’t give us a dime.