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Docking with the Empire State Building was probably safer than docking with the ground. Which turned out to be not very safe. The speculation goes that one cause of the ignition was a bolt of static when the Hindenburg got close to the ground.
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Actually, they never used the Empire State Building because of the winds. It just turned out to be impractical. They did try to use it for mail delivery, but even that proved unreliable.
The static that caused the fire (supposedly) was only a problem because the dissipation system in place failed. Some of the panels maintained their charge and sparks were jumping the gap. Those sparks set the highly combustible aluminum power in the panel's coating on fire. The current theory holds that if they had not been delayed en-route, the conditions that caused the accident would not have been present that day.
A good program on this was aired on PBS here. Some of the details are on this website:
PBS - Secrets of the Dead
-Neil