Overheard on O'Hare Tower

[Zack Baughman]

This comes from a good friend of mine who is an air traffic controller at Elkhart, Indiana.

Overheard on O'Hare Tower

Blimp: "Airship one is clear of your airspace requesting a frequency change"

ORD Tower: "Frequency change approved. I am not sure what a solution is, but it was a pain having you guys in and out of here."

Blimp: "Well we would much rather had gone to Meigs, but you all bulldozed it. Keep complaining and next time we will file IFR and make an ILS approach."

[Chad Jensen]

Awesome...

[Jim Hann]

:thumbsup:

[sdilullo]

Beautiful! :D

[Tom Downey]

Airship 1, stand by for vectors 180 is the number, go to it, heading or airspeed.

[Todd copeland]

Love it!

[RustyB]

Stealing this... :)

[Frank Giger]

:)

[Jim Hann]

Yup, posted it on Facebook!

[steveinindy]

we will file IFR and make an ILS approach.

That would be hilarious.


Are blimps even fitted out for that? I mean, I would imagine they could be but doubt that they are. LOL

[Hal Bryan]

From Goodyear's FAQ:

All Goodyear blimps are FAA-certified for IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flying, day or night. They carry two King 360-channel navcom radios, the usual light plane instruments, digital radar for keeping an eye on thunderstorms, transponder for radar identification, and a couple of instruments peculiar to blimps: manometers for watching envelope pressure and a helium temperature gauge. All Goodyear Airships carry GPS navigation receivers for precise navigation.

John King has some interesting stories about flying an ILS in a blimp - the best part was his crack about worrying about the weather behind​ you. ;)

[Frank Giger]

Based on my flying today, chances are I still wouldn't see them in the pattern.

[Jim Hann]

From Goodyear's FAQ:

<snip> They carry two King 360-channel navcom radios,

I hope they have upgraded, I don't believe the old 360 radios meet the channel spacing requirements today! Anybody knowledgeable out there?

Jim

[dewi8095]

I hope they have upgraded, I don't believe the old 360 radios meet the channel spacing requirements today! Anybody knowledgeable out there?

Jim

Maybe the thinking is that two 360s equal one 720?? :)