Where the Zeppelins are made (photos)
Road Trip 2011: In Friedrichshafen, Germany, just a few miles from the Zeppelin Museum, where the long, great history of the airships is celebrated, Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik is making today's airships. CNET got a chance to visit the company's hangar and see work in progress.
Zeppelin NT in hangar
The old design? Zeppelins, the airborne specialty of this town on the edge of Lake Constance that is in fact home to the Zeppelin Museum. And while they first flew in 1900 and became the most famous--and most infamous aircraft in the world--for a time, Zeppelins eventually faded away. Until recently, that is, when a company based here began making the airships again.
Known as Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT), the company produces what is known as the Zeppelin NT, a new take on the venerable airship. Currently, three of the company's Zeppelins are making their way through the skies of the world, and with what it says is Goodyear's purchase of three Zeppelin NT model 101s, meant to replace those famous but aging blimps, it would have six airborne.
As part of CNET Road Trip 2011, reporter Daniel Terdiman stopped by ZLT in Friedrichshafen and got a first-hand look at the hangar where the company keeps the zeppelin that it uses to take passengers on flights, and where it is slowly building new airships.
This is the Zeppelin NT flown by Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei, a ZLT subsidiary.