If the Hindenburg disaster was a death knell for airships, why wasn't the first airplane crash a death knell for airplanes?
by 
Egao No Genki
ANSWERS: 2
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Public image was indeed a major factor in the demise of the airship, but economics and customer demand played a much bigger role. The fact is, airships were only more desirable for very long flights. They were slow, and much more susceptible to delays caused by wind conditions. For short flights, airplanes soon became much more economical and faster. As time passed, the economics of short flights spilled over into longer and longer flights. Meanwhile, building and maintaining a fleet of airplanes got cheaper and cheaper - especially per passenger mile - while dirigibles had always been extremely expensive to maintain, and got to be more and more so. Ocean going passenger ships suffered the same fate, one might note. Today no one travels by boat for anything other than leisure.
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Hindenburg crashed because of one reason: It was full of Hydrogen, which burns in contact with oxygen.
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