what is the most wind any of you will brave with your ships??

[aaronredbaron]

we are flying a 10 foot tall, 62 cu ft of helium design we call the windcrafter out side, untethered in turbulent wind conditions gusting up to 8mph. also because we run at a low internal pressure we can lift up to 10 oz of camera or other payload. this is jsut a minimum design that is a very rough prototype, and already we have proven to ourselfs that this ship is going to change things. keep an eye out for us because soon this ship is going to take over blimp advertising because 90% of our surface area is usable for advertising.

[Majortomski]

Outdoors??? Wind??? IN OKLAHOMA??????

HAR HAR HAR!!!!

Welcome to the helium head capitolist club. Hope your plans pan out!

[drisok]

10 mph sustained/25 mph gusts

[sky captain]

gale-force winds (yeah right)

[spinbotz]

shrug, it depends I guess on the overall performance of a commercial unmanned airship designed for outdoor use only. .*mainly because trying to fly a 50 ft airship inside a small stadium means running into alot of things pilots may not want to hit..* would guess the highest winds that any commercial unmanned airship could theoretically brave is around 45 mph.. *the cruising speed of the Good Year blimp so I've heard is about that, maybe a few miles faster..*

[airshipmodels]

The optimum shape for a low drag LTA vehicle is still the classic cigar shape.

It has the best compromise between drag due to pressure (area of cross section) and friction (wetted area).

Using the same weight for engines, propellers, batteries, servos, recievers and cables, a conventionally enveloped ship will either fly faster or have a better endurance than the windcrafter shape. And thus will fly at higher winds.

[Frisk151]

We have a 30 foot Blimp with twin G26 engines on it. I usually won't take off if I get an indicated 15 MPH wind at ground level via our anamometer. Of course, the most important factor is whether or not it is a steady wind or gusting. I prefer a steady 10 MPH wind and fly up to 20-25 depending on the situation.

Helium filled balls handle wind quite well in my experience.. Again, it is the gusting that can create problems..