Some very rich folks have mega yachts. Some have private blood boys. Some have complete islands. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, nevertheless, seems to be the one billionaire constructing a fleet of airships, and the most recent episode of Hi there World brings you inside one.
On This Episode
Over the previous few years, Brin has been quietly funding the development of a brand new, very giant airship in Silicon Valley. We take you behind the scenes for an unique have a look at mentioned airship and attempt to clarify why Brin would wish to spend $250 million on the creation of such a machine at the moment.
The arrival of a brand new airship offered the right excuse to look at the historical past of those fantastic creations and even to fly on one in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the place airships nonetheless rule the skies.
Issues You Will Be taught
Talking of Friedrichshafen — as one does — the town has an unbelievable and odd historical past tied to airships.
Airship pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin carried out a few of his earliest experimental flights on the shores of Lake Constance, which lies at Friedrichshafen’s edge. When Depend Zeppelin died in 1917, he laid the groundwork to switch his mental property to a basis. That basis has since develop into fairly profitable with the IP fueling aerospace and automotive empires. A big chunk of the cash is funneled again to Friedrichshafen, which bestows its largesse on its residents.
Because of this, Friedrichshafen is an idyllic place to go to, with lakeside eating places, walkable streets and delightful surroundings throughout it.
Away from Friedrichshafen, again within the US, airships have a protracted and storied historical past, too. About 90 years in the past, the US navy funded the manufacturing of big airships at a facility in Akron, Ohio. A few of these plane had been flown to what’s now NASA Ames in Silicon Valley the place they had been housed in big hangars.
Brin’s firm LTA Analysis has now taken over one of many hangars at NASA Ames and the large Airdock in Ohio. LTA, for Lighter Than Air, is successfully repeating historical past, solely with carbon fiber and titanium twists.
Issues to Do After Watching the Episode
There aren’t many locations that provide rides in airships to vacationers, but when flying like a wizard is a dream, you may head to Friedrichshafen throughout sure components of the 12 months and float by means of the skies.
The rides price $600 and final about an hour. It is a dear however distinctive expertise. Flying in a zeppelin is easy and sluggish and quiet. I like to recommend it.
Whereas in Friedrichshafen, you may actually let the airship life-style wash over you. There are airship sculptures. Airship-themed bars. Airship retailers. And, after all, the Zeppelin Museum the place you may stroll by means of a recreation of the Hindenburg and be taught all you could possibly ever hope to study lighter-than-air craft.