Acres of cars in Oxnard

Santa Barbara

We're seeing equestrian centers, golf courses and some pretty
impressive estates as we pass through Santa Barbara.

Dug Doing the Dog

Coastal fog approaching Santa Barbara.

Impressive Geology

Beach!

Passing Avila Beach and Pismo Beach

San Luis Obispo

Just passed the university campus.

Cutting through

Following 101, currently north of San Luis Obispo headed to the ocean.
Head winds have started!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben and his dad are aboard our transit. Ben is 18 tomorrow and this
was his surprise gift. He says hi to Nina and Trey.

Black Gold

Oil fields ....

Coastal Fog

The coastal fog is amazing. A gentle pillow as far as the eye can see.

Salad Days

The farms of Salinas

Foggy Bay

Flying at 3000ft to go over the Monterey Bay fog.

On our way to LA!

8:25am departure for Long Beach.

B17, B24, P51 and other warbirds of the Collings Foundation below.
They are offering tours and flights as they cross the country - I
highly recommend them!

Fill 'er Up

Time is here doing a story on helium. Lucky for them they can get some
great shots - we are topping up ahead of our trip tomorrow to LA.

Good dog!

Dug makes a pretty good ships mascot. And he talks.

Dug is our co-pilot

Can you say 'product placement'?

We're having some fun with this plush toy version of Dug from the
movie UP.

Bay to Breakers

We're doing some exposure flying over the Bay to Breakers event this
morning. Watching tens of thousands of runners from the air is
mesmerizing!

Will post some hi-res pictures later today.

UP Street Party

Love the scale house with balloons!

Up everywhere!

Hello Burbank

Down in Burbank today scouting for the ships LA trip this week and in support of the LA premiere of UP. Would be nice if we could operate here - the airport has a nice golden age of aviation vibe to it - well have to see. We're on for Long Beach though!

Creating the New Look

Here is a timelapse which shows the application of the new decal to the airship. Over 700 panels are being put onto the airship. Thanks to Airborne Grafix for a stunning realization of this branding (they're in the orange cherry picker in the movie) and our team led by Matthew K (blue cherry picker) for working so hard on getting this decal on AND cleaning the hull to get rid of all the previous adhesive goo!

Whole lotta lead

An impressive stack of shot bags (used for ballast) ready for the trip
to Oakland.

Helium rocks!

While we were looking down, they were looking Up. (picture from Disney-Pixar)

Cluster balloons!

Launch of "Up" at Pixar today!

UP and away!

I can see we're going to have fun with this new image..

Makeover revealed!

"Eureka" emerges from the hangar into the lifting fog this morning.

Decal Done!

Now we have a real UP Ship!

Side number two..

Working their way through the second side, nearly done now.

One Side Down...

Decal should be finished on Tuesday. Everything has gone very very smoothly indeed.

UP appears

And now more of the decal is revealed. The UP word is about 80 feet across.

House going on

Laying out a very big graphic such as this takes a great deal of planning and skill. Installation requires a fleet of cherry pickers!

Stop Time

And at the end of the first day, we have new words on the airship!

Start Time

Today Josef from Airborne Grafix and the new decals for the airship arrived. Step one, lay things out on the floor in the right order...

New Lapel Pins

Our new pins have arrived!

Thanks to Siegel-Inocencio for the design, and Nico at Lapel Pin Planet for the manufacture.

We're working on adding items such as shirts, posters, cards, models and pins like this to our (not quite open yet) gift shop.

We'll post here at the blog and via our newsletter when the shop opens.

Timelapse of decal removal

Chief Engineer, Matthew K, and our IT Manager, Brian K, decided to record the removal of our 'Fly With Me' decal as a timelapse. The result is a really cool snapshot of how large the airship is and how large the decals are compared to the people. We'll also record the new one going on!

One word down..

The team managed to get the airship in the hangar today just as the wind got really strong - and fortunately after our passenger flights were done. We've been adjusting our schedules to match the weather patterns and are getting quite adept at making the most of any flyable conditions! Anyway, this was good news as we had cherry pickers standing by to help the team start removing the branding that is currently on the airship. What will replace it? Watch this space... (or should that be, "watch the skies"..)

When does a truck need another truck?

Glenn Adams sent us these webcam snaps of our mast truck being loaded for transport.

Just as the German trucks were not automatically allowed on US roads when we first brought them in (they are fine now), our US spec truck has the reverse issue in Germany!

The German trucks are not quite as long, and have a better turning circle -- crucial for navigating traffic circles (kreisverkehr) and other tight spots on European roads, among other things. Our truck is longer, with a mid-mounted drop-axle, to better distribute weight -- a requirement for operating on highways here in the US.

Second ship?

I've been waiting for this shot of 'Eureka' lined up with our model Zeppelin for a while! It was taken during a photoshoot we were doing on the Zeppelin yesterday to create some 360 degree views of the interior and exterior for the website. Thanks Angela!

Red Letter Day.

Two years ago, on April 19 2007, Airship Ventures was incorporated. Not something we reported on the blog then, it was merely an administrative task completed. But yesterday it took on a special significance. Brian and I decided to join the airship for its flight to Monterey and back and we were very lucky to be with our 'transit' passengers - mom, dad, son and grandson on a day outing for dad's birthday. It was a gorgeous day after the fog cleared, with a temperature inversion which gave us cool ground conditions and air at 1500ft as warm as a hand dryer. The fog was teasing the coastline all day, creating a spectacular glory around the shadow of the airship.

For both of us, this flight was proof positive of how amazing the Zeppelin experience is. We felt honored to be able to peep as three generations sat on the rear window seat and discussed the world around them - the nursery gardens in Salinas, the IBM Almaden Research plant, the Lick Observatory on the top of the hills, the oil derrick pumping the shales, the waves breaking in the Monterey bay, the traffic on the road..... Their enthusiasm and joy was totally infectious and my face ached with smiling as I contemplated how the last two years of hard work had now enabled such treasured memories.

Flying to Monterey by airship, spending the day at the world renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium and then traveling back in leisurely style at the end of the day has to be one of the most awesome opportunities we offer. The birthday boy said "Don't wait until you are 71 to do this. It's one of the best days of my life."

We're glad to have been able to share in it.

Back Home

Placing the shadow on hangar 2

Refueling at Marina

Refueling at Marina on the way home to Moffett Field

Over Cannery Row

Beautiful day here in Monterey!

Morning freeloader

We have an extra passenger this morning. We're on our way to a day of
coastal flights out of Monterey.

Dog is our Co-Pilot

We were having fun decorating the Zeppelin statue in front of HQ for a guest the following day.

Scania and International Face Off

Glenn Adams sent us these webcam grabs from Germany of our new mast truck (white) nose to nose with the Scania mast truck (blue).

Looking in.

The ship kiting in the wind makes getting the shots a challenge

NASAs visitor lounge taken over

What clothes look good with an airship?

Shoes?

Eureka is the setting for a fashion shoot today.