Rigid Airship: An airship which has a rigid framework to maintain the shape of the hull.
Rip Cord: A manually operated device which withdraws a parachute from its pack.
Rigid airships have made longer single flights than other types and have flown more hours and miles without refueling than any other form.
[6] The USS Shenandoah, the first rigid airship built in the United States, and the first in the world to be inflated with helium, was lost in a cloud suck accident associated with a squall line.
Non-rigid or semi-rigid airships, like the Goodyear blimp, use only the pressure of their lifting gases to maintain their shape. Rigid airships like the infamous Hindenburg have full-envelope metal interior framing.
 See also: Aircraft, Airship, Flight, Lift, Aviation
  
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