- The Hindenburg crash was the first airship disaster captured on film. The images showed lighter-than-air vehicles called dirigibles to be a dangerous form of air travel.
- Lives were lost in previous crashes of helium-filled airships, but the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg fell to the ground, consumed by flames, 32 seconds after the first flames were seen. Of the 97 passengers aboard the Hindenburg, 35 were killed.
- Rumors about sabotage circulated, because Nazi Germany had financed the Hindenburg's construction, using it as a propaganda tool. Investigation eliminated sabotage and volatile paint as causes for the disaster.
- Fears surrounding explosions and flammable materials being responsible for the disaster spread. Using gas-filled compartments to maintain buoyancy was deemed an unreasonable risk for commercial flight.
- Development of North Atlantic air travel by plane started in 1937. On June 24, 1939, weekly commercial flights between New York and Britain began, employing Boeing 314 flying boats and a North Atlantic route.
- Commercial transatlantic travel, using flying boats or seaplanes, was available in the 1930s. These flights between Europe and the Americas crossed the South Atlantic, by way of Bermuda.
