Goodyear Blimp crashes and bursts into flames; pilot dies after saving his passengers - Polidicks

By the way, the name of the Blimp was [url="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/13/goodyear-spirit-of-safety-crash-claims-pilots-life-in-germany/"]"Spirit of Safety"[/url] But yeah, as an aviation fanatic, It's always a shame to see such an iconic aircraft go down. [editline]13th June 2011[/editline] Also [quote] A representative from Goodyear contacted us with the following information: "This airship is not one of our 3 US ships and is a totally different kind of airship. It is owned and operated by Lightship Europe Limited. The airship was one of two chartered by Goodyear from LEL for marketing purposes in Europe."[/quote] From the above source

[QUOTE=evilweazel;30434921]I still think I woulda jumped out and hoped for the best, either I survive somehow or I die more or less instantly when I hit the ground. Better than burning alive, only thing I think thats worse than that is drowning.[/QUOTE] German aircrews on board of zeppelins during the Great War did this a lot. There was a recurring black joke that went throughout the Kaiserliche Marine about whether it would be better for one to jump or one to ride the burning wreck down to the ground and likely either burn alive or be killed in the crash. Probably the most famous case is when Kptlt. Heinrich Mathy leapt from the burning wreckage of L-31 as it plunged to the ground below after it had been hit from an incendiary bullet by British fighters near Potters Bar. There's a photograph of where he landed, with an imprint in the ground's soft soil. He was still alive, just, after he hit the ground, but vomited up blood and died on the spot a short while later. He's buried with his crew in a nearby cemetery, IIRC. [url]http://www.stereo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/wrecks/ww1imprint.jpg[/url] [url]http://www.zeppelinmuseum.eu/Bilder-d/Bilder02/Bild17-i.jpg[/url] L-31's wreckage landed on a tree, funnily enough, and burned it pretty much to pieces. Part of it still stands to this day, however. Part of the gondola and the observation cable car are one display in the Imperial War Museum. [editline]13th June 2011[/editline] Photograph of Mathy, for reference purposes: [url]http://www.patriotfiles.com/gallery/data/572/2imag0148.jpg[/url]

[QUOTE=LunchboxOfDoom;30437307]but vomited up blood and died on the spot a short while later. [/QUOTE] :ohdear:

[QUOTE=LunchboxOfDoom;30437307] vomited up blood [/QUOTE] Never a good sign. Especially when leaping from an airship.

Oh, the humanity!

This had nothing to do with the lifting gas, this is some malfunction that could have happened to any other aircraft. Airships are potentially the safest things in the world.

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;30434427][U][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwh07fYNdCY[/media] Non-flammable my ass [/U][/QUOTE] That episode was amazing. [editline]14th June 2011[/editline] how dare you make me laugh so hard in a thread like this

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;30434427][U][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwh07fYNdCY[/media] Non-flammable my ass [/U][/QUOTE] [I]IT'S THE HINDENBURG 2.0[/I] I feel horrible for that. But the odds of something like this happening are minimal, and the guy died with honour. RIP, pilot.

[img]http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/cliche_city1/hindenburg.jpg[/img] [b]OH, THE HUMANITY![/b]

At least he died a hero and not a coward.

[QUOTE=Fahrenheit;30440861][img]http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss55/cliche_city1/hindenburg.jpg[/img] [b]OH, THE HUMANITY![/b][/QUOTE] Not at all. It's filled with helium and the fabric is heat treated, i'm guessing that somehow damage to the gondola or supporting structure ruptured the hull and it started to deflate, while the fabric started ripping from the force of the acceleration.

It used to say "Ice Cube's a pimp!" :(

damn, I thought we were done with the flaming balloon shit.

[quote]After the three leaped to safety, the airship was soon engulfed in flames and soared to 150 feet due to the loss of weight in the cabin.[/quote] Maybe it's because I don't know shit about the workings of blimps but what? He gets on the ground and suddenly gets launched back in the air because of weight loss?

The gas in the blimp was lifting the balloon up as it was lighter than air, without the weight of the passengers it went even higher.

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;30433250]I still don't know why we still have blimps[/QUOTE] How dare you! It's the proper way to show status and navigate large distances. A better question would be: "Where did all the blimp landing pads go?"