Zeppelin Ride, 26 October 2009
Iimages Copyright © Neal R. Wagner, 2009,
all rights reserved
The Zeppelin ride lasted two hours,
going from Moffett Field at the south end of San Francisco Bay,
up the bay past Alcatraz Island, and back south to Moffett.
There are only three zeppelins like this in the world, ours,
and one in each of Japan and Berlin.
And don't call them a "blimps", since a blimp has no structural
skeleton, as these do. The first one was manufactured about
ten years ago. In July of 2008 the Airship Ventures Company
bought a zeppelin from the Zeppelin company in Germany, paying
some fifteen million dollars for it.
The pictures occur in the timeline of the trip. The zeppelin
came in with twelve passengers, and to keep the ship balanced,
each pair of new passengers was exchanged with a pair disembarking.
Ours was the last trip for the day, so each of us was replaced by
water ballast. The older pilot, sitting on the right, is a German
pilot instructor, while the younger woman is one of their regular
pilots.
A representative of Airship Ventures said that the helium in
the zeppelin had to be "purified" every six weeks, and that they
had an approximate 2% helium loss each six weeks.
Roughly half of all flights are canceled due to weather,
and instead of a refund, you have to reschedule. This was the
fourth try for one pair with us -- once they got 20 minutes out
and had to come back. During windy times in the bay area
they take the ship down to Los Angeles. The ship is normally
stored outside, as long as the wind is less than 70 knots.
The ship will travel about 35 miles per hour, and can go
for at least 11 hours (I'm not sure exactly how long).
It could be brought across the Atlantic by stopping in the
Azores, but instead they removed some outer fins and shipped
it on a boat, then flying it across the country.
Getting FAA approval to fly this ship was very long and
complicated.
More information is available at:
Airship Ventures.
Hangar behind.
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Exchanging
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passengers.
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Looking forward.
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Looking port.
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Looking back.
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Fancy cockpit.
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SF skyline.
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Alcatraz.
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Side propeller.
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Notice shadow.
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Window below.
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