>the deadliest airship disaster in history was a helium airship
I think that may be a misleading way to put it.
"Most casualties had been caused by drowning and hypothermia, since the crew had not been issued life jackets, and there had not been time to deploy the single life raft"
When a large airplane enters heavy turbulence, stalls and falls into the sea, I don't think that would be the usual scenario.
I don't think that is misleading; a storm downed the airship, resulting in nearly all the crew dying. That they didn't die on impact doesn't change things. If a torpedo sank a ship and most of the crew died from exposure in the water rather than the explosion (USS Indianapolis), you'd not say that torpedoes aren't a major threat to ships.
Another comment elsewhere in this discussion says that airships stalled for fear of another Hindenberg. 'Fear' suggests some measure of irrationality, as though the Hindenberg were a one-off accident. The reality is these things were crashing all the time. People had ample reason to rationally expect airships would continue to crash.
I think that may be a misleading way to put it.
"Most casualties had been caused by drowning and hypothermia, since the crew had not been issued life jackets, and there had not been time to deploy the single life raft"
When a large airplane enters heavy turbulence, stalls and falls into the sea, I don't think that would be the usual scenario.