Lincoln Beachey circles the Washington Monument in an airship, June 13 14, 1906. NASM 98-15047 by National Air and Space Museum Archives: Smithsonian Institution, Transportation History #balloons
118 years ago, America’s first stunt pilot flew circles around the Washington Monument and then landed on the White House lawn to try to greet the President. Nowadays, Washington, DC has all these capitol-specific airspace rules that diidn’t have personal dirigibles in mind. Drones are banned city-wide too. It’s not to say that this stunt is impossible to do legally nowadays, but good luck getting permits to do this.
Why is it tethered to the ground?
It’s a monument. We want it tied down.
Wait, is it tethered? It’s a poor quality photo, so maybe it is? Beachey and Knabenshue were out there flying that dirigible every afternoon and evening for a week, so maybe wind was a factor? Like, if they were worried about crashing into the Washington Monument, the thing is made of marble bricks, so it wouldn’t do any damage to the monument.
There appears to be a line traveling from the bottom of the dirigible to the ground.
