Comments on: Zeppelin Ride Above Long Beach (Trip Report)

By: Zeppelin rides | Memorialstuff

Zeppelin rides | Memorialstuff — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:02:04 +0000

[...] Zeppelin Ride Above Long Beach (Trip Report) – >> The Cranky FlierMay 26, 2009 … It’s safe to say that I never expected to be able to ride in a Zeppelin in my lifetime. Actually, I didn’t even know they still made Zeppelins until … [...]

By: Best of the Web | Golf Hotel Whiskey

Best of the Web | Golf Hotel Whiskey — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:01:29 +0000

[...] Ride Above Long Beach. Meanwhile, Brett of the CrankyFlier.com blog takes readers on a trip that few people will be lucky enough to experience – a ride on a [...]

By: Shannon G

Shannon G — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:48:05 +0000

All these pictures are missing is the Rocketeer and Howard Hughes flying in an Autogyro…

By: John

John — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:19:35 +0000

I had a chance to fly on one of Goodyear blimps (pre-update and consolidation of the fleet) 15 years ago. AMAZING experience. Nothing else is like this.

Unlike the picture, this blimp had strictly manual controls. Pilots, 2 of them, had a big wheel inboard of their seats, pedals, and a wheel. Overhead were knobs. Pull a knob and it would hang by a control wire. I do not think the engines could vector thrust. I think they explained the controls purposes, but it has been too long ago for me to remember.

Controls allowed the pilots to pitch the blimp with passengers looking directly at the ground. Hanging in complete silence looking at the ground. Not a typical airborne experience.

Landing the beast in a slight breeze completed the show. A support team struggled with mooring lines and giant bag of helium. Almost comical except for the real danger of damaging a unique item of Americana. Kudos to Goodyear for keeping the fleet going.

By: Brian Lusk

Brian Lusk — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:30:44 +0000

David,
Just remember that as big as the modern Zepplins are, their predecessors, the big rigid airships like the Hindenburg and the Macon (which was based at Moffett Field were four times bigger). The Zepplin Company liscensed their designs to Goodyear, so the Macon and it’s sister, the Akron, we technically Zepplins even though they were made in the US. The Macon was an airborne aircraft carrier and carried five biplane fighters inside its belly. They were launched and recovered with a trapeze device. The passenger accommodations on the Hindenburg were in the belly of the airship, but the Graf Zepllin and the USS Los Angeles (a passenger Zepplin provided to the US Navy as war reparations for WW 1) had accommodations in long gondolas.

CF, the Zepplin Company had approached the US about using helium in the Hindenburg (at it was designed to accommodate helium) but the US refused to sell such a critical strategic resource to Nazi Germany. As a result, the Hindenburg flew with hydrogen instead.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:28:55 +0000

Dude…you made my month cause im SO there ;-P lol.

I’m with Optomist…I smell money to be made, but wonder if the Caribbean is too convective 9 months out of the year to support that kind of venture. Now Hawaii, the Cali coast or Med…hmmmmm. Any venture capitalists in here?

Thanks for the heads up Cranky…valuable intel as always!

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:19:30 +0000

Amazed to see the artificial horizon as one of their flight instruments…I doubt that ever registers anything other than almost completely horizontal!

By: David SFeastbay

David SFeastbay — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:38:39 +0000

That Zeppelin flys around the Bay Area and you are right unless you see it, you wouldn’t know it’s there compared to the louder blimps. It’s really big and you see those ads clearly since the letters are so big. I can remember what the last ad was when I saw it flying over my mothers neighborhood. It’s so big even she saw it and her eyesight isn’t that great anymore.

We get the Metlife blimp a lot also, mostly at night. It glows blue with the white letters so at night you can see it real well, better then in the day time I would say.

By: The Traveling Optimist

The Traveling Optimist — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:27:51 +0000

Now if the cruise industry was smart, they would commission a few commercial zeppelins to operate 3, 4 and 5 day sailings out of West Palm Beach over the Caribbean Islands.

Sailing TO St. Thomas is one thing. Sailing around Tortola is another. Sailing ABOVE the Grand Caymans? I smell money in the air.

Or maybe they could just add an all day “shore excursion” to the laundry list of other money draining activities each cruise offers.

Why the Caribbean? I’m guessing that outside of hurricane season (offer a repositioning flight like any of the regular ships) most passengers would want the calmest skies possible to convince them to stay on the thing longer than a few hours.