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Kamic
08-02-2011, 08:51 PM
Very thankful for the Zeppelin being at AirVenture this year! Here are a few photos I took of it: https://picasaweb.google.com/goetzman/Zeppelin

Jason Alexander
08-03-2011, 07:31 AM
Am I the only one who was slightly disappointed by its size [Insert "That's what she said" joke here]? I was expecting some massive ship. When I got there, I thought Farmer's had just sent their blimp to hold a place for the Zeppelin when it got there!! lol

But seriously, I was really impressed by the show they put on Saturday night! That thing was awesome!!!

Kamic
08-03-2011, 08:43 AM
I believe the Zeppelin is the largest airship in the world - or at least the United States at 246ft. I guess it would be small compared to the Hindenburg at 804ft.

FlyingRon
08-03-2011, 09:09 AM
Let's get some terminology straight.
The Farmer's Airship (which is named Eureka by the way) is called a Zeppelin because it's made by the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_Luftschifftechnik).
It doesn't quite fit the original meaning of Zeppelin being a rigid airship on Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's basic design
It is the largest airship of any sort operating in the US.
It is not a blimp. A blimp is a non-rigid airship. The Zeppelin NT's like this are semi-rigid.
Blimps, Zeppelins (NT and traditional), and other airships are all dirigibles (i.e., steerable lighter-than-air aircraft).

It was pretty impressive watching it do it's "high speed" and other "airship acro" passes.

Kamic
08-03-2011, 09:29 AM
FlyingRon: Thanks for the terminology information! :) - I was extremely impressed with the Zeppelin on ground and in the air! :)

Here is a few random facts: I found that the estimated cost to build the Zeppelin was $18 million. The prototype was used to find Diamonds in Africa for De Beers, the diamond company.

BeagleOne
08-03-2011, 07:37 PM
We rode in it! It was a lot of fun...especially hanging out the windows. The pilots were super-friendly and very willing to chat with the passengers. I would definitely recommend it, especially in the Bay Area...the windows are huge and you would get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge etc.

Fastcapy
08-05-2011, 08:24 PM
I also took a ride in it. What a different, cool flying experience. The first few days of the show I would see it flying low over my house and mid week decided I needed to fly on that thing. Now I can take that off my bucket list!

Sounds like in the next few years Goodyear will be replacing their blimps with Zeppelin NT airships.

Adam Smith
08-05-2011, 09:41 PM
I enjoyed my Zeppelin flight, one of my big aviation "bucket list" items. As a child, both my grandmothers used to tell me stories of when their hometown in England was bombed by a Zeppelin in 1916. Then later I worked at East Fortune airfield in Scotland, which was a WW1 airship base, and the departure point when R-34 made the first east-west Atlantic crossing by air in 1919.I was very impressed with the design of the Zeppelin NT.

MEdwards
08-08-2011, 10:38 AM
Sounds like in the next few years Goodyear will be replacing their blimps with Zeppelin NT airships.

That will complicate and confuse the terminology even further, because any Goodyear airship will forever be the "Goodyear Blimp" no matter what it is.

Anymouse
08-08-2011, 10:40 AM
I also took a ride in it. What a different, cool flying experience. The first few days of the show I would see it flying low over my house and mid week decided I needed to fly on that thing. Now I can take that off my bucket list!

Sounds like in the next few years Goodyear will be replacing their blimps with Zeppelin NT airships.

Just be warned that if you make blimp flying a regular thing, you'll need to change your name to Slowcapy!! :p

Fastcapy
08-08-2011, 11:25 AM
Just be warned that if you make blimp flying a regular thing, you'll need to change your name to Slowcapy!! :p


Ha. Thats a good one!