Tag Archive for 'dirigibles'

Inhabitat: Roland Cernat’s Beautiful Sustaino-Glider!

Beyond gorgeous and made out of fully recyclable materials, the Oriens Glider by Roland Cernat really tosses down the ol’ gauntlet on conventional plane design.

According to a post on inhabitat today:

“He describes his Oriens Glider as “A plane with [a] reinvented lifecycle based on the Cradle-to-Cradle principle. It combines an ecological energy concept and sustainable materials, with an organic design language and bionic inspired details”.

Cernat’s concept is governed by a “designed-for-disassembly” philosophy based upon the Cradle-to-Cradle ideals, thus all of its materials are easily recyclable. The glider’s frame is constructed out of a lightweight flax bio-compound that is CO2 neutral, recyclable, and its transparent body is constructed out of polycarbonate, which can be repeatedly recycled without compromising its integrity.

The glider’s wings are crested with photovoltaic cells that provide for emissions-free flight, and an electric motor houses a propeller that retracts when gliding for increased efficiency. For safety and practicality, a fuel engine and generator allows the plane to operate as a hybrid.”

Actually, thinking about it, the Oriens could be the great-grandson of the famous Bell Helicopter.

Could be related, no?

We’d love a clear bio-acrylic zeppelin! Yum!

Thanks for the tip inhabitat!
And thanks for the inspirato Roland Cernat!

NY Times: A New Age For Dirigibles

Hello All,

We just ran across a great piece about airships in the NY Times, with some beautiful photos accompanying.

Beautiful photos like this:

Nice, right?

Ah… what could be…

Stephane Rousson’s Pedal-Powered Flying Machine!



Stephane Rousson
is a Frenchman who dearly loves being airborne.
The pilot and adventurer is going to attempt an English Channel crossing in a pedal-powered dirigible. While the human angle fascinates me, I’m really gaga over the flying machine.

Check it:

As material sciences advance, and we are able to build lighter and stronger structures, and motors and power supplies similarly shrink in mass and increase in power, there’s no reason a new wave of commercially available, human-powered dirigibles couldn’t be offered. And what fun that would be!

Here’s to the skies!

Super Blimp

Super Blimp

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This is Lockheed Martin’s new top-secret Super Cargo Blimp. I’m really excited about this.

Firstly: Blimps are quiet, majestic and safe.
Secondly: You can run them on anything. All-electric, solar, biodiesel, veggie oil, ethanol, whatevs.

Imagine these replacing trucks. As anyone who has ever driven on a freeway can agree, trucks and commercial vehicles shouldn’t really be sharing a roadway. Countless accidents a year happen because of the size disparity between trucks and cars.

Cargo blimps like these could free up roadspace, while running cleaner and quiter than anything we’ve got that rolls.

Rolling goods around on wheels is SO ’06.

Yay blimps!

-J