Defective - A Psychopath's Tale

Chapter 82

Sasha

The air tour was fantastic. The captain of the Von Zephyr came out of the control deck and down to where everyone was on the bottom two decks to introduce himself, meet passengers and answer questions. I had a couple of questions for him. My first was what was the difference between the jet engines used on airplanes and the turbines used on the zeppelin. He stammered a bit then said he'd defer that question to one of the engineers onboard.

My second question I figured would also be deferred to an engineer; why is the fuel for the engines stored outside of the airship. This he had the answer for.

"Hydrogen is a very volatile gas; a small buildup can cause a catastrophic explosion. With the hydrogen fuel cells in open air, the possibility of any buildup is virtually eliminated. The alcohol is stored inside the balloon. Since a much smaller quantity is needed, the tank is actually part of the ballast for the airship and is far more stable and considerably less explosive." He explained.

Made sense to me. Alcohol on its own, wasn't explosive at all; only when aspirated with oxygen or in air did it become explosive. I had forgotten about my first question, figuring the engineer wouldn't be bothered to answer a passenger's question; it was about an hour after I'd asked, when the girl with the answer found me.

"Hello, you were the one asking about the engines?" She asked.

"Ah, yes. I was just wondering what the difference between the jet engines on airplanes and the turbines on this airship was." Now I felt a touch embarrassed by asking the question.

"In rudimentary design, they both utilize a jet engine; this being the case, all jet engines are a turbine engine. Pure jet drive engines produce their thrust through combustion of fuel and the expulsion of the exhaust. Our turbine engines are of a turbofan design; the turbofan takes air in through the front of the engine, routes it through compression chambers, then combines the thrust of the air with that of the exhaust. The result is a more efficient engine over all and produces less noise than a standard turbojet engine. Which is why they are preferred for our applications on a zeppelin." She recited.

"Oh, I thought jets used air intake as well." I commented.

"Yes, they do. But the air they receive from intake is ported into the combustion chamber only. On intake the air is compressed, just like in the turbofan. With turbofans such as ours, intake air is much greater and is also driven in for combustion; the rest of the air bypasses the combustion and is further compressed and expelled with the exhaust. This is referred to as a high bypass engine. Our engines are also maneuverable, not fixed as in an airplane. This gives us the ability to move the engines left or right and up and down for control of the airship over rudder and engine speed alone." She smiled the entire time she was explaining the operations of the engines to me.

She probably had been asked this question hundreds of times and her response by now was well rehearsed. But hey, that was part of what they did on this tour, and the company did brag about their educational aspects of zeppelin travel. You'd never get this opportunity on an airbus.

"So, if they're more efficient and quieter, why don't airbuses use turbofans?" I posed.

"They actually do. The turbofan is an advancement on the original jet engine, with a jet engine at its core. The engines on an airliner are much larger than ours, they have to be to provide the needed lift. The airbus engines utilize primarily the exhaust for thrust where our design uses more bypassed air for drive and control. We don't need the thrust to attain flight. We're a gas." She said then snickered at the joke she'd made. Probably written in.

I nodded, trying to look as though I understood everything she'd told me; for the most part I did, but I didn't want to take up too much of her time.