How the blimp is different from the hot air balloon?

Answer 1

Both, a balloon and a blimp, are considered aircraft, and fall under the category of "Lighter Than Air Aircraft" as regulated by the F.A.A. They both have a huge bag of some sort of gas that is lighter than the air around it, and therefore creates lift. Since the Hindenburg, Helium has been the lifting gas of choice, as it is an inert gas, therefore safe and manageable. Some balloons use hot air for lift for shorter, less expensive flights. Suspended from this bag, called the "Envelope", is the passenger compartment. This "Gondola" or "Car" also houses the Pilot, and controls for the aircraft. That is where the similarity of the two part ways.

To simplify the big difference, balloons climb quite readily, but have no means of propulsion, therefore primarily drift in the ambient air. Their path and destination are determined by how the Pilot uses the existing winds. Most times the winds travel at different directions in different altitudes and your Pilot will navigate using these variations to the destination. Truly, an artform. However, if the entire air mass is moving to the east, guess what? You are going east. On the other hand, a blimp has engines and propellers, and therefore is steerable, even against the wind, to the destination. Blimps almost always land at airports, whereas, balloons almost never do. In other words, blimps operate like other aircraft for point-to-point navigation, only slower, and lower. With balloons, you are blissfully and romantically casting your fate to the wind. A finer, more elegant, adventure is hard to find.