Zeppelin

[Kamic]

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]

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]

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]

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.
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]

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]

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.