>  -=> Quoting Jack Sargeant to All <=-
 >  JS> Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 00:02:52 +0100
 >  JS> Subject: Fwd: Art Bell's Update On Phoenix Sightings
 >  JS> flares.  We've all seens hundreds of video tape of this sort.
 >  JS> What these witnesses describe is a triangle shaped object about
 >  JS> 1000 feet in the air that was immense in size.  Many of the
 >  JS> witnesses estimated the object to be over 20 blocks long!  Many
 >  JS> got out of there cars to watch it fly by as it was moving very
 >  JS> slowly at this point. Some even reported that the object was so
 >  JS> low there headlights reflected off of it. It obviously was using
 >  JS> some sort of anti-gravity propulsion.
 >     Hmmm, just have to comment on this, I certainly would like  to
 > see
 > someone back this claim up with a piece of videotape, and ID4
 > footage
 > will not do.  20 blocks long, and there  was no  general panic.
 > Just
 > astounded people.  Got out of their  cars?  I  would think  they
 > would
 > have ran for their lives, (if this was real).  Well good thing  it
 > had
 > a good anti-gravity system, would have certainly made  the real
 > media
 > if it had come down on 20 blocks, but then I think something that
 > big
 > would have made the papers, even all the way up here..........
The post in question is, of course, one of the updates I cross-posted
from a news group, and not one of my own concoctions. However, just to
make a point, think about the dirigible construction process for a
moment. It is theoretically possible to construct a dirigible as big
as the one depicted in the Phoenix incident. Simply strap a bunch of
gas bags together and cover with an aluminized skin. The shape can be
any shape they want. (Think of some of the hot-air balloon designs
they come out with.)  In my hypothetical "flying saucer," it could
look just like the one in the movie, INDEPENDENCE DAY. ...But mine
would be a simple lighter than air vehicle, and not an exotic anti-
gravity machine from outer space.  Such a device could serve as
a transport for thousands of people. If the Hindenburg were re-built
and flown around the country today, it would be a spectactular
marvel, 800 ft. long, but with 65 year old technology.
A dirigible is of course, nothing more than bags of hydrogen or
helium filled gas contained by a structure of aluminium girders
and then covered with an aluminized cloth skin.
The most gigantic flying machine ever built was the Hindenburg.
It exploded because the Germans used flamable hydrogen. America
was the only source for helium, a safe gas, but we refused to
sell it to the Germans.
The Good Year blimp, the largest surviving airship.
is only a fraction the size of the Hindenburg. I believe the last
American built dirigible was the Macon.
Jack
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