Some other airships had design flaws worthy of mention. On the pioneering Zeppelin LZ1, the sliding weight (used for pitch control) lever broke, the frame buckled, and the rudder lines fouled. (Payne 60). The
I think he means like on a hang glider or on Count Ferdinand Von Zepplin's LZ-1. For some applications (hang gliders) weight shifting is sort of adequate. Outside of that limited application it really doesn't work well...
https://grantvillegazette.com/wp/ar...nd-disasters-part-1-a-historical-perspective/