Good to the Last Drop

Bag 2 is empty.

Cement Shoes

One storage bag worth of rolling cement shoes (12) lined up and ready for storage.

Jellies in the Hangar

We're most of the way done transferring the helium from the first storage bag back to the ship. You can see the large hose running from the top of the storage bag, to a blower unit (blue box near side of ship) and then into the top of the enveloper. We add the helium at the top, which stays at the top of the ship, pushing air out of access ports at the bottom of the ship as it fills.

At this stage, the storage bag reminds us of the jellies exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Linde -- We Deliver!

While we were able to preserve most of the helium during the inspection process, we will still need to top up. Fortunately for us, our helium supplier, AirGas was able to deliver the required large quantity via this Linde tanker truck.

Refill Starts

Bright and early Thursday morning, and the helium refill begins...

Last Look Inside

Today we removed the service lights and vacuumed the inside of the hull, did a count of the the tools in our three tool boxes and inspected the hull one last time from the inside. We are done with the internal structural inspection and are now ready to refill the hull with the helium stored in the three 2300 cubic meter storage bags. Tomorrow the helium will be pumped from the storage bags into the envelope, next step is to purify the helium and remove the service support structure.

-- Matthew

Seattle Mooring Mast?

Looking forward to seeing an airship in this picture...

What's In the Box?

Oh nothing much... just a new aft rotor.

Where There's Smoke...

Here, the crew is unpacking the third and final helium storage bag, as Eureka tops off the second, the base of which is beginning to fill out in the left side of the photo.


When all Eureka's salvageable helium (~6,900 cubic meters) has been stowed away in our three helium storage bags, the main difference between blimps and Zeppelins becomes apparent - she's not deflated!


Eureka's internal frame supports her from the inside, while struts and the mast truck hold and support her from below. And, while it normally would balance the ship's weight, there's really no need for all this ballast in such a heavy airship. What's the point of all this work, though? Matt and his team need access to all parts of the the ship for the annual inspection, and that includes the inside of the pressure envelope!


It might look like a fire, but it's actually just a test of our high-capacity smoke machine, used to inspect the hull for leaks. We warned the fire department already, just in case anyone thinks we've lit the place on fire, but

Stay tuned for scenes from inside!

Popping a Wheelie

Engines

The Belly Button

Name That View

Fin Pillows

If You Ever Wondered...

... what one Zeppelin-worth of fog machine juice looks like, wonder no more. 32 liters, to be exact.

First Firkin Friday - Tapping the Cask at 5pm

We're having some fun this Friday at the Tied House Brewery in Mountain View after work.

The brewery has invited us to tap the "First Firkin".

Because too much is never enough, we've invited a Bavarian band to come and play too -- The Internationals.

When: Friday March 5th, 5pm
Where:
Tied House Brewery and Cafe
www.TiedHouse.com
650-965-2739
954 Villa Street, Mountain View

How much is a Firkin? Ever so helpful, Google informs us it is 40.9148269 liters. I think our merry band can handle that, but we hope to see you come out and help us anyway. There is always the Second Firkin!

BFI fancies a shiny Zeppelin this year

This is part of the poster for the British Film Institute's Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, it is all over the London Underground!

Heavier than Air

As Matthew carries out the annual maintenance procedures, Eureka is drained of helium, and the ship is now supported from the nose by the mast truck, and at six of its frames by posts and beams.

You can see the gray helium drain hose coming from the top off the ship to the bags and blower.

As the helium is drained, it's pumped into three giant helium storage bags. Each bag holds 2,300 cubic meters of helium and, alone, each could fill a MetLife blimp with 8,600 cubic feet of surplus helium!

Eureka holds a total of 7,400 cubic meters of helium, so where does the other 500 cubic meters go? Because the bottom-most helium mixes with air as the envelope slowly drains out the top, the 'dregs' are not worth putting back in and must be vented.

The bags are held down by concrete blocks on castor wheels - each one is 400 lbs!

Up next: Why take out all the helium?

From our Counterparts in Japan

What could be more beautiful than a flight over California?

Perhaps a flight over Kagoshima, Hiroshima, Osaka, or Tokyo Bay.

Our friends at Nippon Airship Corporation (Japanese Language Site) send us these stunning photos of ship #2 in Japan.

Zip Tie Fun

I was asking Matthew the other day about the methodology for securing the envelope to the airframe.

Zip ties.

Aviation grade of course.

About 4700 of them.

And our team was inspecting them today.

Catwalk Being Installed

Between frames 5 and 9, Marcus is 14 meters up --  climbing harness and gloves required. The catwalk is installed in 5 sections, nose to frame 4, 4 to 5 above the gondola, frame 5 to 9 above the aft ballonett,  frame 9 to 10 between the carbon structure for the fins and the frame 10 to the tail.

-- Matthew

A rare glimpse inside the envelope

With the helium removed, and air in its place, we are now safe to start working *inside* the envelope.

Here we are looking from frame 5 towards the nose.

-- Matthew

From Mobile Computing to Cloud Computing

Liz Kerton of the Telecom Council kicking off the 2010 Spiffy Awards recognizing innovation and excellence in telecom and mobile.

We'll be taking the winners on a 'mobile geek tour' of Silicon Valley.

Ship Fully Drained

The day finishes out with the ship fully drained of helium, and three bags full...

-- Matthew

Two down, one to go

Two bags full, and most of the third...

Each bag is 108 feet tall.

- Matthew

A Zeppelin in my computer game!

Last night I was turning off my brain by engaging in a computer game that involves hunting for objects in various scenes to earn items that you need to escape from an island. (I didn't say it was intellectual...).

Imagine my surprise when I was in the gazebo and there was a Zeppelin in the background. Definitely a Zeppelin, with the signature blue nose lines and fins and off center gondola. However later in the game I was asked to find the 'blimp'....grrrr. Don't worry, I'll tell the guys at PopCap about it (they came up with Bejeweled, so you can imagine how addictive this puzzle game is.)

The Transfusion Begins

Matthew sends us this picture of the start of the helium draining process - we are now removing the helium from the ship, and replacing it with air, while cradling the ship with supports from below.

Name that Part

The annual inspection started Monday.

Can you name this part?

Save the Peak

On our most recent trip to LA, we noticed something a bit different on our 2-hour studio tour.

The "Hollywood" sign had become, temporarily, "SAVE the PEAK".

The issue is that the 138 acre parcel behind and to the left of the sign, is on the market, and zoned for the development of 4 luxury homes.

A project is afoot to raise money between now and mid April to purchase the land from the private owners, and incorporate it into Griffith Park in order to preserve the current view of the sign.



For official information on the project, visit www.savehollywoodland.org

Aerial Joy Rides

Seen at Long Beach airport...

From LA, with Love

Michael C. sends his love to his sweetheart, Sabine, who is back home in Germany.

Valentines Preparation

A few of the gift bags ready for a full day of romantic flights
tomorrow!

Parachute not included

Nancy brought her own parachute...

14400 lbs of cement blocks

With the annual inspection coming up, preparations are being made for one of the more exotic phases of the process -- the transfer of the helium from the ship, over to 3 helium storage bags.

To keep our helium storage bags out of the rafters we'll need 36 movable blocks of 400 pounds each -- that's 180 bags of Quikrete!

A rule of thumb is that 1 cubic meter of helium at sea level, provides 1 kilogram of lift. We'll have roughly 7000 cubic meters to store, and enough blocks to keep it all weighted down.

Have a heart?

We're kicking around the idea of doing something fun for Valentines Day...