Lithium Battery Fires On Airliners Average More Than One Per Week - AVweb

Wingfoot 3 is not a blimp. It is an Airship of the Zeppelin type as it has a rigid framework with three longitudinal backbones, where the gondola, the engines, trim bags and the three tail surfaces are mounted to. This framework is inside the envelope which is filled with helium and is kept inflated by pressurized air in the ballonets. And it was in fact built by the Zeppelin Airship company in Friedrichshafen in Germany. It has three engines with propellers that can be rotated to provide vertical thrust, two on the sides and one in the back that runs an additional tail propeller for yawing like a helicopter. The Zeppelin NT type, as it is called, is fly-by-wire controlled and can hover and maneuver like a helicopter (a really slow one). Due to the possible vertical thrust it is usually operated in a heavier than air mode with a few dozen kg of weight. And therefore it is flying and not driving. It will have some angle of attack to generate some lift while cruising.