Personal Blimp

22/Nov/2006 Filed in: Diversions

Why bother with commercial blimp travel when you can fly your own personal blimp? On October 27th, the Airship Alberto made its maiden voyage. The personal blimp, which uses hot air, has been in development by Skyacht Aircraft since early 2002. The company’s goal is to build a silent, steerable and affordable air vehicle.

The Personal Blimp website shows the evolution of the project, and describes the aircraft, “The Personal Blimp uses hot air (rather than Helium) for lift and virtually silent electric motors for propulsion. To put it another way: the Personal Blimp is a hot air balloon that can be maneuvered about in nearly perfect quiet. Passengers in a Personal Blimp have a serene experience of flight unavailable in any other type of aircraft. (Note: Initial flight tests are using a conventional gas-powered motor. Electric motors will be added once these initial tests are complete. Similarly, the initial flight tests are being made with conventional—i.e. loud—hot air balloon burners. Quiet burners will be added later.)