KSCessnaDriver
Well-Known Member
No. If you want to fly an instrument approach (and technically you can, the ones I fly are IFR certified and all required inspections are current), you fly it just like an airplane. You can probably understand how impractical IFR flight in an airship is due to the lack of speed.
I've never flown an approach in IMC, however I've done a few practice approaches in VMC under the hood. Staying on the localizer/glideslope centerline can be a challenge, especially if there's a strong crosswind and it's really thermally (like say, in the middle of the afternoon). The crab angles can get kind of crazy, which can make things more.... interesting.
On the plus side, you have more time to brief and familiarize yourself with the approach. Oh yeah, it's pretty much impossible to ever find yourself in an unusual attitude in an airship as well, so that's nice.
I, on the other hand, have been IMC with an airship. It's totally different, and even compared to being under the hood, its not the same. The whole, unusual attitude and losing control of an airplane thing, yeah, can't happen really in a blimp. Basically, you bob and weave and roll a bit, but it never goes turtle up. IMC for an airship usually would be fog and ceilings, not convective activity. In that environment, its not too bad. Yes, its not uncommon to have 60 degrees or more of crab angle.
My IMC experience was in Orlando, and it took 2 approaches to get into ORL. Those 2 approaches, from first vector to breaking out, took in the region of 1.5 hours. Its extremely slow, especially if you have to go upwind.
As for landing, this might show it a bit better, from the video perspective. The first is a video from inside, landing on an A60, which is the small blimp. The latter, is exterior of an A170, which is the larger. Same concepts, just different sizes.
And for reference, the A60, is roughly the size of a 737-800, and the A170 is the size of a 767-300
Yup, DirecTV is stuck for weather. We are headed to Buffalo, should get out tomorrow.
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