The Bodensee’s Commercial Service
OUT of Germany comes an interesting report on the operation of the dirigible Bodensee, which has been in regular commercial service for some time past, conveying to a credulous world the impression that the day of the passenger-carrying dirigible is here. Practical commercial dirigibles may be an immediate possibility, but for the time being they exist in the form of blueprints and lengthy specifications. That, in brief, is the new impression conveyed by a review of what the Bodensee has done. During the first month’s service, or from August 24 to September 23 last, the good airship Bodensee carried 1,300 persons in 30 voyages of 208 hours’ duration, thereby covering a distance of 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) without any incidents. But subsequent service, especially during the windy days of autumn, did not prove quite so smooth. The Bodensee on a voyage from Friedrichshafen arrived at the airdrome near Berlin at 6:30 p.m. on November 2. About thirty persons were in the airship. The wind was very strong, no order was given for landing the vessel, and the crowd who were holding the landing ropes appeared to be friends of the passengers aboard the airship, with the exception of some half-dozen officials. The Bodensee nose-dived five times, and bumped the ground three. One of the people on the ground was killed and five were injured. The Zeppelin then ascended, the lights went out, and she vanished. When the airship had been held down the passengers were able to speak to their friends on the ground. One lady was heard to tell her husband that they had had a very bad voyage, and that she would never undertake it again. The Hamburg-Amerika Line afterwards issued the information that the vessel was safe, and came down in the Harz mountains. All the passengers were saved. The ship was not seriously damaged, and will return under its own power. All of which points out the weakness of present dirigibles when operating in windy weather, such as prevails through at least half the year in most countries. With larger airships equipped with more power, together with the use of the mooring tower, it will be possible, no doubt, to operate in gusty winds with a minimum of danger.—Scientific American.