Labrador's don't like blimps

twdeckard

twdeckard

Pre-takeoff checklist
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twdeckard
We live about five miles from KFCM (which means we live close to the Hazeltine Golf course where the PGA is playing).

Thursday night, Monty the labrador; barks to come in, follows me downstairs and sits right next to my calf as I plop back down in front of the computer. He was very intent on not leaving my side and he was clearly trying to communicate something. But we don't know anyone named Timmy,and we don't have a well, so I shrugged it off.

Then I heard the droning of the engines. The Goodyear Blimp flew right over the house! I bet they are mooring it at Anoka. Monty stayed in the downstairs bathroom. He never barked, but he clearly was disturbed by it.

Todd
 
They do (blimps) have a very unique sound / growl. I can always tell when one is nearby long before I see it.

Of course, I go outside to see it instead of hiding like your Lab.
 
One of the Siberian Huskies I used to have would go nuts when a balloon flew by. The combination of the burner noise and the large moving object low in the sky evoked some sort of pimal fear in her. One time she was riding in my ski boat (she loved to sit in the rear seat with her head hanging over the gunwale) when a balloon made a low pass over the lake. She flew under the deck and wouldn't come out until we docked.
 
gismo said:
One of the Siberian Huskies I used to have would go nuts when a balloon flew by.
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I had a balloonest say that the burner generated ultrasonics that the dogs were sensitive too? Don't know if its true but they said that they always got a reaction from the dogs they overflew.
 
Skip Miller said:
IIRC, the Goodyear Blimp has two IO-360s. The engines are not unique, but it could be the exhaust system.

-Skip
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I wonder if it is the relatively slow forward velocity. In our airplanes the prop is actually excellerating the air only slightly faster than the slipstream. In the blimp it would be clawing at the air, in fact I wonder if they make a special prop/governer range for it. It could also be that you are hearing them lashed to a giant fabric kettle drum, coupled with virtually no doppler as it goes overhead it might make for a deeper rumble.

Are there any blimp drivers on the internet, or do they have their own secret society fearing they would be shunned or teased by the other pilots?

I was suprised last night, we had a block party which converged under a neighbors deck in the rain. The blimp stayed on station quite a while even though there were lightly scattered TX passing thru. Given it cannot really make much of a run for it I would have thought it would be weather phobic.
 
twdeckard said:
I wonder if it is the relatively slow forward velocity. In our airplanes the prop is actually excellerating the air only slightly faster than the slipstream. In the blimp it would be clawing at the air, in fact I wonder if they make a special prop/governer range for it. It could also be that you are hearing them lashed to a giant fabric kettle drum, coupled with virtually no doppler as it goes overhead it might make for a deeper rumble.

Are there any blimp drivers on the internet, or do they have their own secret society fearing they would be shunned or teased by the other pilots?

I was suprised last night, we had a block party which converged under a neighbors deck in the rain. The blimp stayed on station quite a while even though there were lightly scattered TX passing thru. Given it cannot really make much of a run for it I would have thought it would be weather phobic.
Click to expand...

I would expect that a blimp's props are similar to a climb prop with much less pitch than a regular airplane prop. I also believe that they normally run pretty high RPM.
 
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