No.4 HAMILTON PLACE
National Aerospace Library 
The Royal Aeronautical Society is supporting the 9th International Airship Convention and Exhibition and has negotiated preferential rates for RAeS Members to attend.
Organised by The Airship Association, the Convention will be held from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd June 2012 at the Ashford International Hotel, Ashford, Kent which is advantageously located in South Eastern England near the Channel ports. Boasting a very modern station on the Eurostar high-speed railway line to Paris, Brussels and London. The hotel is modern, well appointed and located just 500 metres from junction 9 on the M20 motorway linking London and Dover.
At the heart of the Convention is a 2-day International conference with 36 papers submitted from 13 countries: Argentina, Canada, China, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, UK and the USA.
Hybrid airship flying in Bedford
The submissions are drawn widely from industry, academia and government organisations. Applications considered include flood relief, environmental studies, plant studies, agri-business and forestry, surveillance, mass transport and heavy lift. The types of airships are varied with a number of papers on hybrid airships, solar airships, stratospheric airships, unmanned airships, and traditional airships.
Topic areas covered include current projects and technology, innovation, maintenance, research and development, operations, climate, market, finance, future projects and technology, education/training and history (including lessons learned from patents).
This will be a truly comprehensive conference with something for everyone including the ever present paper on Helium. There will be a report on the NASA Cargo Airship Workshops, as well as a presentation by Mr Thomas Brandt Chief Executive of Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik. Scientific studies include hybrid optimum lift, thermal modelling, LTA robotics in uncertain winds, winged aerostat, CFD envelope shapes, prestressed beams and struts, buoyancy control, simulation, and testing.
Zeppelin New Technology airship flying in Friedrichshafen
The abstracts were reviewed by a panel of 7 judges drawn from industry and academia to achieve the appropriate balance of theory and practice.
The conference is preceded by a welcoming reception sponsored by Cambridge University Press and held at the hotel on the evening of Wednesday the 20th followed by the 2-day conference on the Thursday and Friday. A banquet will be held on the Thursday evening sponsored by BOC (part of the Linde Group) and The Lightship Group. The final day of the Convention, Saturday the 23rd, will feature a model airship regatta with races and performance competitions for remotely piloted airships from all over Europe. A partner programme is also organised during the 2-day conference with visits to Canterbury and Leeds Castle. The convention is also sponsored by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and supported by The Royal Aeronautical Society and The Airship Heritage Trust.
