The makers of the revived zeppelin handed over their first airship to a commercial user on Saturday, seeing off the sleek white craft with brass band serenades before it starts its leisurely voyage to Japan.
The granddaughter of the original airship's inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, was on hand as Japan's Nippon Airship Corp took delivery of the 75m ship, which is destined for sightseeing and advertising flights in Japan and a starring role at the 2005 world's fair in the city of Aichi.
The new craft designed by Germany's Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik -- named Zeppelin NT for "New Technology" -- is filled with helium rather than the intensely flammable hydrogen that fueled the earlier generation of airships.
"This is an important day in the history of Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik -- the very first time that a Zeppelin NT has been sold," Zeppelin manager Bernd Straeter said as some 1,500 people gathered for Saturday's ceremony at the company's huge airship hangar in Friedrichshafen, on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany.
The original era of the zeppelin ended when the Hindenburg caught fire on landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937 -- killing 35 of the 96 people on board and dashing the dream of the airship as a mode of transportation.
Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik started building the new dirigibles, which are about one-third the length of the Hindenburg, in 1996, but the sale to the Nippon Airship -- sealed in March -- was its first commercial deal.
Straeter said on Saturday the sale price was "under US$10.8 million," but did not elaborate.
Yesterday, the cigar-shaped craft -- with "Germany in Japan" painted in large black letters on its side -- was to take off on its journey to Japan, where it should arrive by mid-August.
The journey comes 75 years after the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin flew from Friedrichshafen to Tokyo.
There's room for 12 passengers and two crew members in the new ship's gondola, but it won't be taking passengers as it zigzags across Europe and on to Asia.
Three pilots and three technicians for the airship's new owner were given a three-month course of intensive training in Germany to prepare for the voyage.
Planned stops include Geneva, Paris, the Dutch port of Rotterdam, Munich, Berlin and Stockholm, where it will stop in mid-July before heading onward to Russia.
Currently named Bodensee -- the German for Lake Constance -- the ship eventually will be rechristened by its new owners, but the new name has yet to be chosen. The company plans to use the ship mostly for flights over the Tokyo area, said Hiroyuki Watanabe, Nippon Airship's president.
"This calm way of flying will suit Japan well," said Zeppelin's granddaughter, Elisabeth Veil.
Since 2001, the German company has been offering tours of Lake Constance, which straddles the Swiss-German border, with the three airships in its fleet.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS