Thursday May 7th 1987

50 Years After Hindenburg, Blimp Rides Are Back

 

World’s Largest Passenger Airship

The worlds’ largest passenger airship, capable of seating up to 13 passengers and two pilots, flew today in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The airship, a Skyship 600, owned and operated by Airship Management Services, Inc. of Connecticut, is 197 feet long with a volume of 247,000 cubic feet. The ship was built by the company’s technical staff based in Elizabeth City, North Carolina with the support of the company’s own FAA Repair Station.

Airship Management’s chief technician, John Hankinson (an FAA Designated Airworthiness Representative for Manufacture and Maintenance) who has been responsible for the building of 15 airships worldwide, stated that:

"what makes this ship unique is that she is fitted with an envelope made by TCOM LP, right here in North Carolina. TCOM is a world leader in lighter-than-air fabric technology, with aerostats operating at over 10,000 feet for up to 10 years. The material, incorporating Tedlar® fabric from DuPont, is lighter, stronger and with longer endurance than other envelopes. It is ideal for this, the largest passenger airship in the world."
Another unique feature of the Skyship is its swiveling propulsion system which allows the ship to "hover" and hold station for long periods. Like all modern airships, the Skyship uses completely safe, inert, helium gas for lift.

Airship Management first used a TCOM envelope for its contract to supply an airship for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and decided to use the new envelope material for this ship which is leased to FujiFilm (USA). Airship Management supplies not only the airship itself, but also all flight crew, ground crew, technical support and ground equipment.

Skyship 600s which have successfully operated all over the world, including Australia, Japan, Korea, the USA, Canada and Europe for commercial customers and government agencies, are fully Certified by the US FAA, the UK CAA, Australian CAA and Japanese JCAB. They sell for approximately $5 million each.