Travel ABOVE the danger..

[fester_hicks]

I'm not familular with this type of transport but what are the chances of hot air balloon being used to travel with?

[Dagnammit]

Or perhaps using helium Larry Walters-style: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_Chair_Larry

Hot air and helium ballooning are not practical as a transport method as you don't have much control over where you land. But it might be a good idea to look for helium canisters and weather balloons when collecting supplies - it could be a clever method of escape from a besieged fortress.

[Victor Clark]

A hot air balloon might be a creative form of transport, but it's also very noticeable. What do you think a group of raiders and bikers will do when they see a huge hot air baloon in the sky? They know it wasn't just something left over from the past life, and they will chase your balloon (and since those balloons are both huge and slow, the bikers will probably win the chase) and take you down. Plus hot air balloons are hard to find, difficult to start alone, can only hold 2 people in their baskets, and can be destroyed literally by a slingshot! Unless there's no planes, bikes or cars in a vicinity filled with the undead, I doubt I'll take a form of flight that Wile. E. Coyote would only think of.:lol:

[mattifikation]

A blimp might be a better idea. I wonder if anyone's ever considered a solar powered blimp before?

[Dagnammit]

A hot air balloon might be a creative form of transport, but it's also very noticeable. What do you think a group of raiders and bikers will do when they see a huge hot air baloon in the sky? They know it wasn't just something left over from the past life, and they will chase your balloon (and since those balloons are both huge and slow, the bikers will probably win the chase) and take you down. Plus hot air balloons are hard to find, difficult to start alone, can only hold 2 people in their baskets, and can be destroyed literally by a slingshot! Unless there's no planes, bikes or cars in a vicinity filled with the undead, I doubt I'll take a form of flight that Wile. E. Coyote would only think of.:lol:

I still helium would be good as a last chance escape (read these articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_ballooning and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozi%C3%A8re_balloon). You couldn't carry much with you, just enough food and water to last a few days, and a weapon, but because it would be kept in reserve (on the roof) as an emergency escape method, it wouldn't matter anyway, as you'd only use it in a life or death escape.

It's easier to get a hold of than a helicopter and... well... do you know any helicopter pilots? When everyone else is grabbing gear and armour at the army surplus store, take the time to steal a few surplus weather balloons (some Army Navy stores sell them) and steal a helium canister from a greetings card store. No one will be looking for them, and it will only take a few minutes, but it might save your life. :P

[RogueAI]

A blimp might be a better idea. I wonder if anyone's ever considered a solar powered blimp before?

I thought about living in a solar powered semi-rigid airship for a while. Not a Z-Day thing, I just like weird houses. I decided against it due to the size of the helium bladder required (Hydrogen is flammable, and only allows for 8% greater weight capacity) for a suitable living space. I think it could work, but I think it would be risky and expensive, even if you have mechanical engineering skills and built it yourself.

On a side note;
Airships have rigid or semi-rigid frames allowing them to be larger. A blimp's gas bladder does not have a frame.

[Barbara]

Ballon pants? Spongebob style?

[DarthJoe8]

Not being able to control where you're going sounds pretty scary....I like the solar powered blimp idea...:think: Could it be done??


:drinking:

[manaketes]

I thought about living in a solar powered semi-rigid airship for a while. Not a Z-Day thing, I just like weird houses. I decided against it due to the size of the helium bladder required (Hydrogen is flammable, and only allows for 8% greater weight capacity) for a suitable living space. I think it could work, but I think it would be risky and expensive, even if you have mechanical engineering skills and built it yourself.

On a side note;
Airships have rigid or semi-rigid frames allowing them to be larger. A blimp's gas bladder does not have a frame.

Kinda like Setzer's airship from FF3? sounds like a good idea...

[CAVU45]

What's the preventative maintenance like on something like that? Seems like it would be pretty steep for little payoff. I would think it owuld be better to have an armoured vehicle with an engineer blade on it for such an eventuality. It could carry more people and supplies and offer better protection.

[Dave Of The Dead]

What's the preventative maintenance like on something like that? Seems like it would be pretty steep for little payoff. I would think it owuld be better to have an armoured vehicle with an engineer blade on it for such an eventuality. It could carry more people and supplies and offer better protection.

Well if my fictional knowledge of fictional engineering is right here, then I would assume all you would need is a level 40 blue mage so you could turn back time to before the thing even broke...

In my opinion, flying in the ZPAW is just an all around bad idea. Too many things to go wrong.

[CAVU45]

Well if my fictional knowledge of fictional engineering is right here, then I would assume all you would need is a level 40 blue mage so you could turn back time to before the thing even broke...

In my opinion, flying in the ZPAW is just an all around bad idea. Too many things to go wrong.

:lol: I agree. I can't imagine someone actually trying to fill a balloon with zombies climbing the stairs.

[mattifikation]

Instead of a balloon, you could use a big rocket to launch yourself in the air, then detaching frm it and then using a parachute to guide your descent to a safer area. Good luck though. ;-)

[Dave Of The Dead]

Instead of a balloon, you could use a big rocket to launch yourself in the air, then detaching frm it and then using a parachute to guide your descent to a safer area. Good luck though. ;-)

Okay Johnny Knoxville. :roll:

[mattifikation]

Seriously, if you had the right training it shouldn't be a problem. They already make wearable rocket belts. They already make hang gliders. Combine the two, and you should be able to make quite a fast getaway with a pretty good range.

[JakAttak]

this one is all about how you can use aircraft to drop in personel. i think it could work for s&d. so just put down your thoughts and we can be at each others throats in no time flat.

[Birdman44]

As long as I have a chopper pilot, I'de use those for raiding larger stores that have open enough parking lots for landing, and for setting up places to battle it out with the zed :evil:

[Bob]

You should learn to be the chopper pilot.

[mattifikation]

You could put a big rocket on a hang glider. That should be interesting. If you're smart, you could probably make it work. If you're not smart... well, no big loss then, right?

[CAVU45]

Helicopters are very versatile aircraft. They can hover, practically stop on a dime, are fairly fast, can carry large loads, and can land practically anywhere. In that versatility lies thier Achilles Heel also. They can be damned difficult to fly and due to their complexity require vast amounts of steady and regular maintenance. They would be a good choice as a get the hell outta Dodge transport, but beyond that would become steadily dangerous. A fairly large infrastructure wold have to be in place to use them regularly. Pilots to fly them and mechanics to keep them flying. Most importantly though would be the logisitcs train. A steady and regular fuel supply would be needed and a vast and secure supply of spare parts would need to be on hand or easily procured.

[mattifikation]

An ultralight helicopter that runs off ethanol would be maintainable by a single person, store easily, and be simple to fix and repair. Plus, you could produce your own fuel if you had a secure enough and large enough bit of land. You'd need to have a separate one for each person you wanted to be able to fly, though.

[CAVU45]

Small ultralight piston pounders can't carry shit though. One person on a warm day is about it. Most can't even get off the ground on a hot summer day.