…the first experimental airships WERE coal-powered, or at least steam-powered. They couldn’t make any forward motion in a headwind. Performance would only prove slightly better for subsequent battery electric (!) designs. In fact, Daimler gasoline engines were at first considered unsafe after the first two of them crashed, the first one going pop because the engine was too close to the envelope.
 
Santos-Dumont then figured out that putting the engine on the gondola was probably the best thing to do. Then it worked.

@Background Pony #7991  
But magic.  
Ain’t gotta prove shit.

But coal isn’t lighter than air.  
Coal is in fact considerably heavier than air.  
I don’t think you thought this through.

@amess  
*equestrianity

What could possibly go wrong indeed: a considerable problem with ballasting as the coal is burned.

@amess  
I see what you did there.

OH THE HUMANITY!