Elsewhere, blimps are in use as advertising platforms.Ī hangar that was put up at Brand near Berlin as a factory for the Cargolifter has been converted into a vacation result named Tropical Islands, but visitor numbers for the project have disappointed. Two are for providing joyrides and one went into use this month in South Africa doing geological surveys. Since the crashes 70 years ago of several airships including the Hindenburg in 1937 destroyed confidence in dirigibles, visionaries have dreamed of reviving airships as a cheaper alternative to heavier-than-air aircraft.īut independent engineers said that delivering 160-ton loads by airship would not work, because costly mooring facilities were needed at all the destinations to move ballast onto the Cargolifter.Īnother German airship maker, Zeppelin, has built three passenger airships. The June 2002 bankruptcy of the original dirigible venture left 74,000 stockholders nothing from the 320 million euros they had invested and state authorities lost their 41-million-euro subsidy. “The Cargolifter idea has survived the economic crash,” said Gablenz. 194 ff.BERLIN – The men whose failed attempt in Germany to build a huge cargo-carrying airship wiped out hundreds of millions of euros three years ago have returned to the fray, saying they are testing the market again for the Cargolifter.Ĭarl von Gablenz, the former chief executive, and associates said in Berlin late Thursday they had formed a new company named CL Cargolifter to promote the idea and were raising 250,000 euros in equity. Tropical Islands Resort, a water park located in the 'Aerium' - the former Cargolifter airship hangar at Brand-Briesen Airfield in Germany, and the biggest free-standing hall in the world. Kölner Wissenschaftsverlag, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-94, p. ^ Philipp Hermanns: Organizational Hubris - Rise and Fall of a Celebrity Firm using the example of CargoLifter AG.The hangar in Brand, Germany, is one of the largest self-supporting hangars in the world. As you can imagine, the hangar has to be enormous to house such an airship. Der Cargolifter bei Aerospace Technology In November 2000, CargoLifter completed the hangar that will house the CL 160 airship.Loading volume: 3,200 cubic meters (50 m × 8 m × 8 m).
When the load was set down, the plan was to take up ballast water from tank trucks from the ground to compensate for the weight loss. The CL160 should be anchored above the loading area to pick up freight and then pick up the payload using a built-in load frame.
A load exchange procedure was planned for the CL160, which was also tested in practice on the Cargolifter CL75 AirCrane. Many details of the construction remained open, but some components had already been manufactured before the bankruptcy.Ī fundamental hurdle for the construction of large cargo airships is the extensive lift compensation when loading and unloading the airship. For the latter, eight General Electric CT7 -8L shaft turbines with 5882 kW (8000 hp) each were provided, half of which were only intended to be used for steering. The keel should be made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and support quarters, loads, tail unit and propulsion from the bow tip to the stern.