THE HYBRID ZEPPELIN FIXED WING AEROPLANE – ROMANTIC AVIATION NEEDS YOU!
What is aviation? The current popular attitude says aviation is freedom. Let me tell you that is wrong, wrong, a thousand times wrong! Aviation can be true flying freedom though, with this new aircraft type that offers true freedom because its easy to operate and cheap to maintain and its very safe in even unskilled hands. Infact…Yo’ moma could fly it.
Consider your options if you want to fly: And seriously this is an exhaustive and complete list, Firstly try out for your country’s air force navy or army. But most of us will not be smart enough to dux their selection process and gain a career as a military pilot. Same goes for employment in airlines through either cadetship or the traditional ‘get your hours up’ hard work approach. Like I said most of us will fail to dux the selection exams and our progress in those careers goes no further. Afterall they only take the quickest minds the fastest memories the most coordinated and the best of the best. Further suppose you become an airline pilot; airline travel thesedays means sleep deprivation conformation to schedules and a million other parameters of behaviour and action. Air traffic control can and will stuff you around giving you real beading sweat pressure which you dont need. Sometimes in busy airports a crew must wait for hours on the taxiway and then be told if they want to take off they have to do it in the next 12 minutes etc etc. Time wasted on the ground means feul is burnt unnecessarily and this costs money to the airline and then your boss back at the home port queries why you used so much fuel…Try explaining that. Serious sleep deprivation is a real safety hazard for airline pilots because they must conform to silly hours such as beginning a flight at 4am and then travelling across timezones etc etc and so it goes. These are just some of the issues that make commercial aviation anything but freedom for a commercial pilot. What then?
How about General Aviation (GA) or Sport aviation? Well thats expensive. You cant really afford your own Cessna or Piper unless you are a millionaire. And you must stay current with your skills and licences and medicals any one of these failed means your grounded. These aircraft rely on dynamic lift to fly and for that reason they must move fast to fly. Although they are small planes they are complex machines that require great knowledge to operate and dedication and disciplin and infrastructure. Your maintenance team had better know what they are doing or they will kill you. For that you must pay. You must be a millionair to participate in GA and you must be faily intelligent and disciplined or you will crash and get injured. You will also find that thesedays you need to be a lawyer just to get your head around all the air-laws that have heaped up in human culture since the 1940’s. In GA, you can’t go to the toilet without violating some law somewhere. The laws that have built up in GA have made flying safe(er) but so so so restricted and under-inspiring. So GA is too expensive and too demanding for the every-man to achieve flying freedom.
So Defence, Airlines and GA are crossed off your list of possibilities, what then? How about sport aviation?? You could fly an ultralight (Similar to GA needs discipline intelligence and money), a paramotor (Aerofoil can collapse and like icarus you fall to your death: Many paraglider pilots become paraplegic pilots). How about a trike ultralight (Not bad cost but too dangerous speed no protection around you in a crash requires skill to fly safe and somewhat suceptible to the wind), A paraglider(Same as paramotor – bad for the spine), A hot air balloon (too suceptible to the wind! too expensive too passive) A blimp or a helium airship? (Too expensive too susceptible to wind easily dominated by wind and cumbersome to store due huge size), a hang glider (Dangerous) Or a three-axis glider (High performance machine requiring money and intelligence to operate)…So what then?? Guess your dreams to be a flier have crashed and burned before they even got off the ground huh? Not quite, consider this aircraft I designed:
Semi-buoyant Helium-filled rigid framed, three axis, 4 pax, fixed wing. Cruise 40 KMH, V Max 120 KMH, V Stall 20 KMH, Vnever exceed =120 KMH ?, Ceiling 12000′, 20Hp air cooled petrol engine, reduction drive to an oversized slow rpm propeller, fuel capacity 120 Litres, Endurance 24 hours under power, Time aloft unlimited, Range 1000 km in still air, Basic empty weight 650kg, MTOW 1200kg.
hybrid zeppelin fixed wing winner!
This aircraft concept is a winner. All the serious drawbacks of the existing sports aircraft have been addressed in this design and most of them have been overcome to an acceptable extent. Take for example the inherent safety that this concept can boast of. Slow moving, uncomplicated technical systems, semi buoyant, but most of all, this is a great hybrid cross between the Zeplin we all know and love – but with a much reduced vulnerability to the wind and a conventional fixed wing, but with the lighter-than-air advantages of a Zeplin. The air like an acean current is 100% efficient in moving anything thats immerced within it. That means that if the air is doing 20Knots, then the Hot air balloon in the air is also doing 20Knots. Like a leaf travelling down a stream on the surface tension, the air carries whatever is in it – along with it and at the exact same pace. However the smaller and hevier and faster an object is; the less susceptible it is to the movement of a parcel of air that it resides within. For example an F16 jet can land in a higher cross wind than a Goodyear Blimp. So if we want our aircraft to experience a less exaserbated effect from the wind, we reduce the aircrafts size, increase its speed and increase its weight. Since increasing both weight and speed is undesirable for performance and fuel consumption, the best thing to do is to try to reduce the aircrafts size – particularly its profile, as much as possible. This aircraft depicted on this page is to be thought of as a sort of 45′ sailing yacht of the sky. It offers similar relaxed living space concept and equivilant travel utility to such a yacht – and it is vulnerable to the elements to a similar extent as a 45′ sailing yacht. Of course the similarities are approximate, because say a yacht can load up a few tons of cargo, while this aircraft concept is limited to a few hundred Kilos of payload, but obviously it is a similar creature to a large sailing yacht so I believe the comparison useful for visualising this machines capabilities and vulnerabilities.
Further if you managed to incorporate light weight solar panels on all upper surfaces of this aircraft you could power the windmill with solar. Imagine cruising along at 100′ and travelling from one country to another – over water it doesnt matter, you could sit on the sun deck up top and take in the view similar to travel by Zeplin or train, yet much less vulnerable to the wind because the aircraft’s profile is so much slimmer than any airship. Much of the helium storage is in the large-camber, thick-chord wings. The fuselage is entirely filled with helium sacks except for the indent at the top where the cockpit / living space is located and a tunnel that carries a ladder through the fuselage for access from the underbelly in between the undercarriage to a trapdoor between the pilot and co pilot seats (Similar set up to a B17?) and the cavity under the wing in the centre of the fuselage that contains the fuel tank and the engine. Note the engine is aft of the Cof G while the fuel tank is on it so that when the 100 odd Kilograms of fuel burns away no change in CofG will be incured. The pilot is forward of the Cof G and the pax reside in the general zone of the CofG CofPressure area. This is effective in managing longditudinal balance issues. I know its detrimental to place the cockpit/living space atop the fuselage like I did, but this is the way its supposed to be for visibility and drag reasons. If I placed the cockpit/living space in the fuselage proper then helium containing spaces would be reduced, as would visibility for the pilot and pax, while slinging an underbelly gondola underneath the wings would be practicle, but not as cool as having the upper deck configuration Ive depicted here. If lateral stability is an issue because of this, then dihedral can be nuanced into the wings. Further reasons for doing it the way I did it, is because a gondola would create a fair bit of parasite drag.
The control surfaces are large and full deflection is possible at cruise speed without structural damage occuring because this is a slow moving machine and large surfaces will be required to sufficiently control the pitch / yaw / roll characteristics.
Its negatively buoyant for two main reasons: Firstly a neutral or positive buoyancy is difficult to achieve while maintaining the lowest profile possible (Since we want to defeat the wind suceptability limitations that plauged the Zeplin, the good year blimp and hot air balloons etc) and secondly, because we want to be able to descend under gravity with idle power. Of course different weight configurations inevitably give rise to mission specific buoyancy characteristics. With the above layout the engine may be accessed if its storage cavity is incorporated with and connected to the cockpit / living space access tunnel. Since its located in the vicinity of the CofG, this would enable crew access to the engine during flight / time aloft. This is a very useful aspect.
The cockpit / living space is convertible and would have a hood that can be moved into place during cold, rainy or hot weather. Otherwise open air flying is desirable and possible due to the slow cruise speed. STOL characteristics could be enhanced by the addition of Vortex generators and wing gates, slots and slats and flaps.
CONSTRUCTION
Construction materials are undecided at this stage. I lean towards employing simple and abundant materials that cost little and need no special production processes to shape or manufacture. I would suggest ply wood and aluminium and fiberglass for the important load baring parts such as the main spar of the wing and the main frame of the fuselage and undercarriage. I dont suggest any fancy stuff like monocoque stressed skin etc. afterall this is a Zeplin with wings, so it needs to be very light yet as strong as possible and stronger where it needs it. The crew area needs hardpoints and strengthening to take the weight and the wings do need to survive in turbulence that will increase load factors. Id say a strength or +3.5 & -2.5 would be ideal and if more impressive figures can be achieved while still maintaining the performance capabilities then so much the better. Balsa wood seems applicable to these low velocity light weight designs where parts need not support great loads.
Can you imagine this aircraft below? Picture a long cylindrical fuselage, 2 metres in diameter and containing inside about 9 helium containers similar to or in fact weather balloons. Further the wings hold large amounts of helium inside as well as the fuselage and this makes the aircraft at its Basic empty weight (BEW), keen to levitate tail first into the air above. With the addition of crew and passengers, the aircraft may be untethered from the ground and can begin to taxi. With power on the big craft speeds to a mere 30KMH and rotates into a positive climb.
A conventional layout variation on the same Zeplin / fixed wing concept.
2 extra engines increase MTOW. Note the winglets to help reduce wingtip vortices.
INSPIRATION
This concept is inspired by such aircraft as the 1913 Taube, the Zepplin, the Bleriot monoplane, The Spirit of St Louis, and the giant Gotha and Handely-Page aircraft of the First World War. The aircraft is designed with the aim of achieving the excitment of a hot air balloon journey and in the same spirit as the people that tie a bunch of balloons to a lawn chair and strap themselves in with a six-pack of beer, some sandwiches and a bb-gun. The complete lack of romance in modern aviation is at odds with the general notion of the golden age of flight and with the alledged freedom of flight. My ideal is that we find a way, such as this aircraft, to unteather flight from its slavery to discipline, regulation, legislation and danger. If we make simple safe cheap aircraft then we eliminate the bad things that detract from the freedom that aviation should offer to humanity.
PERFORMANCE
Of course if your facing a 40KMH head wind your ground speed will be zero KMH, however in the same situation, hot air balloons are helpless and airships are badly challenged as well. At least this hybrid aircraft has an evolutionary advantage over the hot air balloon and the airship family, because this hybrid has a more dynamic shape than normal lighter-than-air machines. Exciting maximum ceilings are within the realm of possibility with this hybrid machine, because of the known characteristic of lighter-than-air crafts to attain ceilings that in some cases reach the outer atmosphere where astronaut suites must be worn. While this hybrid machine is designed to reach 12000′ this in its own right is ultra impressive viewed from the fixed-wing aircraft perspective, as conventional fixed wing machines are no match for lighter-than-air machines in attaining max ceilings. Generally speaking, if it can float; it can climb without dynamic lift. Dynamic lift usually requires an engine to create thrust to creat the dynamic lift. Since engines eat air and air rarifies with altitude increase, even turbo engines will run out of puff and aerofoils will become less effective at altitude, because of the old dynamic lift formula which goes something like Lift = Cl 1/2 P V2 S. [Where Cl is the coeficient of lift and P (Pronounced Roe) is the air density and S is the surface area]. Because this hybrid machine has a lighter-than-air aspect to its lift generation capability, it trumps similar powered conventional fixed wing machines hands down. After all we are only talking 20HP to lift 4 people to 12000′. A conventional fixed wing machine requires 110HP to lift 2 people to a max ceiling of 10000′. And it can only stay there for a few hours at most. This hybrid can stay aloft for over 20 hours.
FUNDING
I want to see this happen, but a big financial backer with deep pockets and nerves of steel is what this concept needs before it reaches the final goal of mass production. This aircraft is more viable as a commercial venture than any other sport aircraft, because it is so safe in comparison to the current alternatives, that the legislators would allow it a new catagory of classification that reflects its improved safety. This is a vehicle that is as challenging and dangerous to operate as the family car. As far as aircraft go, that is un unprecedented posibility.
Profitability is likely. The technology is simple and when it comes to aircraft; the machine is inexpensive to produce.
INNOVATION
I have already thought up many new and groundbraking innovations that can support this hybrid machine, such as an onboard electric pump and compressed gas bottle to both inflate and deflate some or all of the Helium cells to control buoyancy just like a deep sea fish or a submarine with its ballast tanks. And a ground unit of a similar mechanism that can be used to capture back the Helium stored in the aircraft when long term storage of the aircraft is intended. Since Helium is a costly component of the aircraft, and since Helium will slowly leak into the atmosphere out of the aircraft, the ability to manipulate and control the aircraft’s Helium while not necessary is both possible and extremely exciting. Such innovation significantly reduces the aircraft’s maintenance cost and adds nuanced buoyancy control. Solar may play a role when Solar Cell efficiency increases and Cell weight decreases – as I anticipate will happen with new innovations in that industry. Another idea I have is to make a simple heat transfer system that can take the petrol engine’s wasted heat energy and direct it to the Helium Cells. This will excite the gas particles and will keep the Helium low density high volume even at high altitude – where the ambient temperature can be well below freezing. This will maximise the Helium Cells’ lift generation performance; even in high altitude rarified atmospheres.
It must be stressed that although a veritable smorgasboard of lovely technologies – particularly emmerging low cost electronic and information innovations currently exist for the taking, this aircraft is a basic and old series of technologies at heart and it could have been constructed in crude form some 106 years ago at the time of the Wright Brothers. The strange thing is that until now no one of significance has put forth this idea for serious production. Sure the odd uni student has put forth a thesis for some cargo lifter type machine with neat youtube animations, but the hybrid in the forms I have presented here on this page are unique in all history which I am proud of, since it seems Ive given the world a unique idea, but Im amazed that no one had ‘done’ this in decades past. Perhaps until now the focus has been too much on supersonic flight and so on.
COMMUNITY OPINION
Now is the time – more than any other time previously, that the community is willing to accept airships and all their derivatives. Further there is a growing tsunami of lighter-than-air and sport aircraft enthusiasts that want to see things like this hybrid become part of humanity. Aviation is now in a globalised, green-oriented post modern technologically mastered stage of evolution. We have broken the sound barier and reached into space and travelled great distances and so on. Now people want to know how they too can get into the air – not in cattle class, but in a old time golden era romantic way, where the every man or woman can join in in an activity that is currently the realm of elite specialists – pilots. Further, the emmerging open source concept is changing the way designers and engineers interact with corporations and great innovative power can be harnessed by the masses as individuals – usually through internet collaboration to create Linux and other open source projects. Hopefully the renaissance in innovative safe fun romantic aviation will be accelerated and informed by open source community collaboration.
CONCLUSION
This Hybrid Zeplin / Fixed wing aeroplane is nothing short of a magic carpet.
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