The Masked Tulip Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 The U.S. Army launched its new $150 million High Altitude Long Endurance airship in Akron Wednesday only to watch it come down in some Pennsylvania woods just hours later.According to Akron's Fox 8, the solar powered blimp went down in Greene County, about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. Intended to provide satellite type communications and surveillance above the Jet Stream, the ship hit 32,000 feet when an "anomaly" forced operators to abort the flight. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/150-million-army-airship-goes-down-2011-7#ixzz1TPx42g3a Edit: Plenty of tin foil there for hats. Be interesting to see how they get that out of the tree tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tahoma Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Plenty of tin foil there for hats. Be interesting to see how they get that out of the tree tops. I got a mate's paraglider out of some trees once. It came out in three pieces, but I got it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Akron doesn't seem to had much luck with airships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronyx Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Oh the humanity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pent Up Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 So that's what Roswell was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronyx Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 It looks like a deflated 'bobble' (Fans of Vernor Vinge need only read the above ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 $150 million....someones made off with a lot. There must be all of 20k dollars worth of materials there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pl1 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 It looks like a deflated 'bobble' (Fans of Vernor Vinge need only read the above ) Looks like a real homebrew job like it was knocked up in someones (large) garage with a couple of big solar panels pot-riveted to the top. Where did the $150 million go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I got a mate's paraglider out of some trees once. It came out in three pieces, but I got it out. Silly sod! You cut the TREE not the canopy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtomsilver Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Silly sod! You cut the TREE not the canopy! I saw a paraglider crash land into a tree and overhead power cable once. We got the pilot out (I wasn't first on seen, let a few others run ahead and test the ground for leccy). The farmer turned up and chopped the tree down so that it could be untangled without risk of electrocution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 when an "anomaly" forced operators to abort the flight Did the sun go behind some clouds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Maybe the "Navigator" was on a bathroom break? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 I saw a paraglider crash land into a tree and overhead power cable once. We got the pilot out (I wasn't first on seen, let a few others run ahead and test the ground for leccy). The farmer turned up and chopped the tree down so that it could be untangled without risk of electrocution. I have paraglided over a canopy of trees on a warm Summer's evening with only birds for company. Looking down at the trees there is a wonderous beauty there... but really scary if you descend too low before clearing them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffneck Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 $150 million....someones made off with a lot. There must be all of 20k dollars worth of materials there. I thought aluminium foil and chicken wire was cheaper than that?? More garbage from the yanks , a solar powered blimp what a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 ...a solar powered blimp what a joke. Presumably the attractiveness of the concept is that working on aerostatic lift, its power consumption is very low (just propulsion, for which a couple of solar panels will do), and therefore it can stay aloft more or less indefinitely - useful for aerial surveillance operations and so on. The drawback, I'd have thought, is that its large bulk and slow speed would make it pretty easy for an enemy to shoot down. I don't know what altitude this thing is supposed to be capable of operating at, but unless we're talking 40,000 feet plus, I'd have thought that even a Soviet era surface-to-air missile of the sort that the Taliban probably have caveloads of would be able to take care of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efdemin Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Presumably the attractiveness of the concept is that working on aerostatic lift, its power consumption is very low (just propulsion, for which a couple of solar panels will do), and therefore it can stay aloft more or less indefinitely - useful for aerial surveillance operations and so on. The drawback, I'd have thought, is that its large bulk and slow speed would make it pretty easy for an enemy to shoot down. I don't know what altitude this thing is supposed to be capable of operating at, but unless we're talking 40,000 feet plus, I'd have thought that even a Soviet era surface-to-air missile of the sort that the Taliban probably have caveloads of would be able to take care of it. Intended to provide satellite type communications and surveillance above the Jet Stream, the ship hit 32,000 feet when an "anomaly" forced operators to abort the flight. I think they have considered the SAM angle already. And to all the armchair experts - if you think it is so easy to make one of these, go and do it. You too could be creaming millions from the defense budget! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I wonder if this 'anomaly' was that they lost control of steering it (either through a communications breakdown or a weather situation they hadn't planned for), and were worried about it drifting into commercial airways? a 737 doing 600mph hitting an airship doing 6mph would be interesting, to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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