Blimp in the pattern

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Light and Sporty Guy
They are easy to spot...

The Goodyear blimp came in while I was doing some pattern work...

GEDC0274.JPG


I stopped when they announced that they were going come in for a landing and make an approch over the FBO...

Managed to get out and get the camera ready to video the landing.

 
Beautiful picture... looks like it was a great day to fly. Thanks for posting this!

(And I keep meaning to tell you, whenever I see your sig line-- "Sent from my computer via a keyboard" it makes me laugh).
 
I've landed next to one of those things before, and yes they are quite visible from a ways off. The fun thing is whenever there is a home football game we see one through the break in the trees.
 
Well, that answers a question I always had about blimp landings. I've always wondered if the crew waited for the ropes to touch the ground first,
 
steingar said:
I've landed next to one of those things before, and yes they are quite visible from a ways off. The fun thing is whenever there is a home football game we see one through the break in the trees.
Click to expand...

ONZ tends to be the place for blimps to hang out if they are covering anything in S.E. Michigan. And when I lived on the island, I used to get to watch them fly overhead on a regular basis. The sound of a blimp was guaranteed to get me to jump up and run outside. :)

What cracks me up is when they show up for something that is happening in one of the domed stadiums...
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
ONZ tends to be the place for blimps to hang out if they are covering anything in S.E. Michigan. And when I lived on the island, I used to get to watch them fly overhead on a regular basis. The sound of a blimp was guaranteed to get me to jump up and run outside. :)

What cracks me up is when they show up for something that is happening in one of the domed stadiums...
Click to expand...

True story. They used to fly one over the Torrey Pines Gold club for the PGA tournament, probably still do. When they weren't filming the tournament, the crews would take the ship low over the nude beach at the base of the cliffs below. I used to be able to look out over the cliffs from my lab and see the Goodyear blimp rising up over them. Quite a sight.
 
The Goodyear Blimp usually stays at XFL when they are covering the Daytona 500 or other local events. I have made my way onto the field more than once to get up close and personal. Although when I try to get a ride it seem as if I have worn out my welcome. By I still try. It is on my list of things to do before I die.
 
I had to deal with a Goodyear Blimp departure right as I was rolling on MY FIRST SOLO. The damn thing decided to take off at the same time forcing the Tower to switch me to Right Traffic.

I quickly shot it down, and switched back to left traffic as that is all I knew how to do at the time. I hadn't learned right turns yet.




:D
 
flightmedic said:
The Goodyear Blimp usually stays at XFL when they are covering the Daytona 500 or other local events. I have made my way onto the field more than once to get up close and personal. Although when I try to get a ride it seem as if I have worn out my welcome. By I still try. It is on my list of things to do before I die.
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You have to be press or a "dignitary" to get a ride - like the second assistant to the secretary for the mayor or something.

Perhaps you could get some press credentials from some place like ANN...:stirpot:
 
IIRC, the Zurich Insurance airship had a program where you could get some seat time at the controls.
 
They were selling rides on the Farmers blimp/zeppelin thingie at Oshkosh last year. Pricey, but I imagine crossing off a bucket list level event would be worth it.
 
Being in the greater Akron area I see the blimp all the time. In fact, it was the only traffic I called out to the DPE during my check ride.
 
I wonder how much blimp training costs??
 
Geico266 said:
Oh the humanity!



;)
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We get one in the area (blimp) all the time out of Moffett.
Funny thing is, the tail number ends in Lima Zulu (maybe named after Led Zeppelin?)
Edit: I guess it's because it's made by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH :idea:
 

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