Airship Ventures

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Chase Plane

Chris is heading out with a friend of his to shoot some video of the ship on the 2 hour Hollywood flight that just departed.

Good Morning Long Beach

Shadow of the Zeppelin by the arena.

Long Beach has been fantastic. We're sold out and already planning a
return trip for 4th of July weekend.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Eureka is the new star of Los Angeles - more on that soon. In the meantime, back in San Francisco, she's taking a lead role in an amazing fashion shoot done in April for 7x7 magazine. Talented photographer Eric Almaz spent a day with Eureka and model Lucie, and the result is gorgeous! Enjoy the link to the slide show!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Déjà vu!

Salad from 27,000ft.

Ok to go?

Safe on the mast after the press and VIP flights this morning. Next
flight is at 3pm. I have to return to Moffett today although I wish I
was staying with the ship and our great team. Brilliant job everyone!!

Ground Support

Airship trucks and TV trucks and both crews wait for the landing

Seeing us in Long Beach

We're getting requests to come and see us. The best place to view take offs and landing is Da Vincis, a restaurant on the field with big balconies!

Sea Launch

This amazing platform does rocket launches on the equator out at sea - a more efficient location.

Empty Hangar Syndrome

With the Zeppelin in LA for Memorial Day weekend, we're missing her (and the away team) back here at Moffett Field. Looks like she's making quite a splash, though... here's a warm radio welcome from LA!

Live TV

We just did live from Eureka with KTLA. Accompanied by their
helicopter. We decided to show off to the helo by hovering. I think
they were impressed!

Happy Birthday Eureka

May 21 2008 was her maiden flight!

Newspaper Writing Contest

The "Science Dude" over at the OC Register (a newspaper in Orange County, California) ran a writing contest this week and has just announced the winner.

The contest was to come up with a 500 word short story, starting with the sentence below:

"Eureka rose out of a thick cloud bank over Laguna Beach. British pilot Katherine turned to her German mentor, Fritz, and said, ..."

The winner definitely played up the British and German heritage of Katherine and Frtiz.

If you have your own thoughts on a good ending, just comment on this blog post.

Transit Flight track

Here is the map created by a tracker on the airship of our transit flight yesterday. As you can see from our posts, it is an incredible experience to fly with the airship in this way. Seats are still available for the return trip!

Hi there!

Dug and Tamara await our guests this morning.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Long Beach Arrival

4:40pm arrival at Long Beach

Hello Goodyear

Goodyear Blimp looks great with the afternoon sun shining on her
silver and blue envelope.

LAX

No turn before coast

We're going midfield over LAX!

Malibu

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!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

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.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

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.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

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!

Monday, May 11, 2009

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!