Any chance you’d be interested in doing the math to figure out power to surface area ratios and what it would have to be to have the maneuvering capabilities of say a Cessna 172 in something like a blimp?
If I'm not mistaken that's impossible as the size of the blimp increases (similar idea -- X^2 max power, X^3 mass, consequently acceleration and maneuverability are poor).
The point was more that heavy winds aren't an issue for a sufficiently large blimp, even without maneuverability, because the impact of the storm on a blimp is negligible.
That doesn't make sense though - if the entire air mass is moving, and there is insufficient propulsion to go faster than the airmass is moving - then that airmass will carry the blimp into whatever that airmass hits? There is too much surface area for much else to happen right?
- The O(1/X) acceleration property prevents a 300km/h wind from getting the blimp to speed quickly. The "entire air mass moving" doesn't change that; you'll see wind flowing around the blimp, wind becoming turbulent and reversing directions, wind losing velocity and converting to heat and sound, local portions of the blimp temporarily deforming, potential blimp damage, and all kinds of other effects from a microburst, but you won't see a high mass-to-surface-area-ratio object have its center of mass accelerate quickly from wind drag.
- The blimp _would_ need to have sufficient propulsion to counteract average wind forces over some time period. If you had a sustained downdraft with squared velocity averaging 270^2km/h over the surface of the blimp for any substantial length of time then the blimp would need equivalent upward propulsion to avoid _eventually_ crashing into the ground. For a sufficiently large blimp though, "eventually" can be extended as far as you'd like by reducing the acceleration induced by such forces and allowing you to average external forces over a longer time period before experiencing any negative repercussions.
I'd think the forces would still be formidable. But yes, assuming the airship withstands the forces, it would not be thrown around as much (specifically: the accelerations and displacements would be lower) as it gets bigger. That seems plausible to me, by your x^2/x^3 argument.
Any chance you’d be interested in doing the math to figure out power to surface area ratios and what it would have to be to have the maneuvering capabilities of say a Cessna 172 in something like a blimp?