A:
Oh yes. This aircraft was inspired by "White Dwarf", a fully functional pedal-powered airship from the 1980's.
My design is a little cleaner, neater and lighter whilst RD has the distinction of actually existing in real life.
Q:
Is it practical?
A:
Er, well, it's about as practical as any gas balloon but as gas is expensive, it needs to be kept inflated all the time and so needs to be kept in a large shed when not being flown. As it has limited range and needs a ground crew of at least three people available at all times, it cannot fly far from its shed unless you have another shed available at its destination. In addition, it is extremely weather sensitive and cannot cope with winds, thermals or turbulence.
So the answer is probably no. :-)
Q:
What are the two white things behind the pilot?
A:
Water ballast tanks. Water is used to trim the aircraft so that it is 'just' heavy. This leaves, on average, about 80 Lbs of disposable ballast to offset any gas lost during flight.
Q:
Does it lose gas in flight?
A:
It shouldn't if you keep it low.
Q:
Why are there no nose battens?
A:
It doesn't need 'em. This is a 'high' pressure envelope and the internal pressure is enough to handle the very slow speeds involved.
Q:
Why can't if fly high?
A:
For simplicity, there is no internal ballonet to compensate for changing gas pressure due to altitude.
Although the envelope can withstand higher pressures than most airships, it is still limited by the pressure-relief valve. Should you climb too high, the valve will release gas to prevent bursting the envelope. This will leave you overweight on landing so you need to drop ballast. Also, the aircraft relies on internal pressure to keep its shape so the loss of too much gas will cause the nose to collapse. A bad thing.
Q:
How is the drive connected to the propeller?
A:
Two 90-degree gearboxes and a snake drive.
Q:
Why do I need a ground crew?
A:
It's 50 feet long and 26 feet high. That's a lot to handle in any kind of wind and even if it is dead calm you still need someone to load it up with 200 Lbs of water ballast so that you can climb off and not have it zoom up and away from you.
