"What is the overall weight of your airframe Amanda, and how many props did you plan for...1 or 2?  It matters.  There are all sorts of non traditional powering possibilities for R/C blimps and airships.  I saw a kid replace the factory engine on a…"

"Cont'd from last...
 
This heats both the helium, and the air inside the ballast bladders at higher altitudes.  Vents at the nose and tail open to vent the heated air from inside the ballast bladders, refilling them with cold, thereby cooling the…"

"There is a ballast control bladder in every non-rigid and semi-rigid design.  It's basically a little blimp filled with regualr air inside the bigger blimp filled with helium.  As the airship rises, and the pressure of the helium decreases, air is…"

"Cont's from last...
 
hot-air balloon blast-valves to add lift at higher altitudes.  It never got off the runway because it flipped over on it's back when the wind caught it broadside.  The Aireon's nacelles were permantently connected with a single…"

"The UAV Version (Colossus) can be built in any of the existing facilities without adding any hangar units (there are still even a few remaining unused large airship hangars around the country and on a few military bases) and could even be…"

"A little mythbusting for the 2 most common misperceptions of LTA technology which stem from a cultural result of the "Hindenburg Syndrome". 
 
Myth 1:  Helium airships leak like a sieve and it is entirely cost prohibitive to use LTA for anything…"

"Yeah, this design can be flown with hydrogen with very little modification and I designed her with the intentions of  doing so the second the laws change regarding hydrogen as a lifting gas in the US. Mainly you would have to return to the…"

"Ambient heating achieved by solar panels and topside surface coating.  Keeps helium at a warmer temperature than if the ship were coated with the heat reflective coating that hydrogen Zeppelins were protected with...you don't want hydrogen heating…"

"The intended powerplants are 12 UQM Technologies EV-218 Three Phase Brushless DC motors (that each weigh 110 lbs including the gearbox) each putting out 71 horsepower with 2 auxilliary Textron Lycoming IO-360 air-cooled flat-four 200 horsepower…"

"Another way to save on lifting gas is to purify it once a week, rather than replenishing.  Helium becomes contaminated over time and must be filtered to retain lift.  You use a lot less helium this way.  At 160' long, even as a UAV this is getting…"

"The rigid frame of the flight nacelle is a faraday cage in and of itself.  That's always been one of the upshots of rigid airship design.  The recovery equipment is coated with nonconductive materials.  It could be struck by lightning several times…"

"Don't forget, the US Navy actually did this with real pilots flying Curtiss FC-9 Biplanes on 4 different airships from 1924 to 1936.  The airships, and airship carrier program as a system wasn't a failure, it was airframe design flaws for the…"

"There is almost no force being applied to the recovery trapeze while the aircraft is hooking on.  The difference between speeds is negligible.  Remember, the airship and the drone both will be travelling at speed of approximately 30-40mph as the…"

"But again, the rigid frame would need to be checked and tightened at least once every 7 days to ensure frame strength.  But coming down to the ground for about 6 hours every 7 days doesn't really make much of a difference considering the area that…"

"I would actually recommend lowering the craft down to either a ship at sea for an unrep (underway replenishment).  It could also be accomplished at any airport with helium blimp facilities.  So, the airship itself would not actually have to be…"