Bye, bye Goodyear blimp

The familiar blimp is destined to become a dirigible airship, in fact a $21 million Zeppelin, by this time next year.

I rode the old blimp (a helium-filled gas bag) back in my professional (such as it was)  journalistic infancy (1973 or thereabouts) and was thoroughly impressed with the notion of hanging in one spot, stationary, above, in my case, the Ohio River.

The other thing that sticks in memory was the absolute quiet when the motors were shut off. You could slide back the glass window beside your seat and listen to dogs bark a few hundred feet below. The landscape hardly moved an inch.

That, I thought, was the way to travel. Maybe someday, even the transatlantic flights of the rigid Zeppelins will resume. Thanks to carbon-fiber girders, non-explosive helium and improved weather forecasting.

Via Instapundit.