Dwight,
You might also want to Google the White Dwarf human powered blimp built by Bill
Watson in 1984 for the comedian Gallagher. One site I quickly found is:
http://home.teleport.com/~reedg/whitedwarf.html
It was 48 feet long (vs about 52 feet for this french blimp) and 17 feet in max
diameter, and had a volume of 6200 cubic feet. With a max weight of 390 pounds
loaded, this means helium gives a bouyancy of about 0.0629 lbs/cf. You can do
your own math with the weight you expect to achieve, but it will be BIG. The WD
cost $1,000 to fill with helium, so it's not real cheap either. I have thought
about a fat wing shape too, but even getting some lift from the wing airfoil it
would have to be quite large and fat, and would be very sensitive to wind gusts,
as is any large aircraft that cruises at 6-7 mph.
Tim Dunsworth

>>> "dfellman" <fellmad@...> 6/9/2008 7:37 PM >>>

this is what i've been thinking about...didn't know such a thing was
already being explored.

i've been trying to think about just how to calculate the minimum size
blimp needed to carry a recumbent...turning a propeller.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/pedal-powered-blimp-attempts-english-cha\
nnel.php

i was also thinking back to my hang-gliding days. consider a stiff
wing, filled with helium; transparent on the top side, and black on
the bottom side. lift from both the helium and the hot helium, no? how
big would the wing have to be?




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