Since it's the day after Thanksgiving, (or "stanksgiving" as someone on Facebook said)
And since everyone is bloated, right?
My thoughts turned back to my bear's airship. Yeah, blimps aren't practical since they can't travel far, can't travel fast and strong winds can destroy them.
BUT...
They do have a longer "loitering" time than an airplane does, and they stay airborne after an EM pulse. Plus Herman would have some kind of techno-magic to get the ship to do impossible things...
Did a little research, the issue seems to be the wind resistance created by such a large, broad volume moving against the atmosphere. I came up with the "vortex Drive" that would create a partial vacuum in front of the ship, and therefore drag it forward.
Sort of like the warp drive on the Enterprise...
This is an old sketch of the airship Utopia in its hangar after Herman (and Professor Behrman) have finished it. They live in a more magic world, but there has to be some believability in its mechanics.
http://www.google.com/search?q=the%20manned%20cloud&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&start=0
http://www.hyperblimp.com/future-hyperblimp/
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080708c1_pr.html
