About This File
The Airship Industries Skyship 600 is a modern airship, originally designed by British company Airship Industries.
Further developed by a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation the type certificate holder is now Skyship Services of Orlando, Florida in the United States.
The first Skyship 600 made its maiden flight on 6 March 1984.[1] By August 1987 a further six had been built and flown.[2] The Skyship 600 is similar in appearance to, but larger than, the Skyship 500.
Because of limitations in plane maker the ducted fan nacelles don't look great but I'll figure something out in the near future. Also I wasn't able to find good reference material so my weights are rather vague.
Even though it says the Skyship 600 can only carry around 180 gallons of fuel, this only lasts about an hour, which doesn't seem right...
For takeoff, first open the weights tab and set the fuel to maximum. You may also add some payload weight if you wish.
Start the engines and set the buoyancy lever to around 50 percent.
Next, make sure you vector the engines to around 60 to 30 degrees. Apply full thrust and pull all the way back on the stick and the blimp should nose skyward.
For cruise, level the ship and set the thrust vector to 0 degrees. She putters around nicely at 50MPH but can be pushed over 60.
To hover, first set the vector to a full 120 degrees and apply full power. Once the ship slows to a halt, vector thrust back to 90 degrees and adjust as necessary to maintain height.
For landing, make a pass over your airfield and check the wind direction. Depending on the wind you need to decide if you should land on a runway or on the turf near the airfield. An open field is usually best.
Line up for landing, just as you would an airplane with the throttles pulled all the way back. Next, vector thrust to 120 degrees and apply full power. Reduce buoyancy. Using your vector thrust you should be able to settle the blimp onto the ground.
The moment you touch down, cut power and reduce buoyancy to minimum.
Still a couple issues to work out. Feedback more then welcome. Feel free to use this add-on however you want.
