Rollin,' rollin', rollin'

After a very rapid night transit with good tailwinds, the airship is safe on the mast in Fort Stockton, TX and the team are getting some zzzz's. Next stop San Antonio!

Tucson

Our first overnight of the tour outside California - Tucson, Arizona. Our first passenger operations will be in New Orleans ahead of the Zurich Classic PGA Tour golf event.

(Photo courtesy Matthew K)

Safe on mast at KAVQ

Marana airfield near Tucson.

Passing Hollywood

About an hour to go before landing.

Santa Barbara oil field

Dolphins!

Just south of Monterey.

Good morning Santa Cruz

Wheels up!

See you in San Bernardino

Doctor Helium

The folks from Advanced Purification System, aka "Doctor Helium" are here for a visit. Normally we use our own equipment at Moffett Field. During our coast to coast tour, we will be using the services of Dr. Helium.

Urban Airship Treat

Our friends over at Urban Airship have a nifty April Fools Treat...

Check Flight

Kate during the check flight. All in the green and to the flight plan.

(Post and photo courtesy Matthew K)

Up Ship!

First flight post-annual!

(photo courtesy Jeremy B)

Into the Sun

Back outside, after a month-long, on-time, and successful annual maintenance and inspection.

Kudus to the crew!

Eureka has a few days of test flights ahead of her, then a very busy 4-day run of sold-out tours from Moffett Field and Oakland before we head off on the six month coast to coast tour.

(Photo courtesy Matthew K)

Hanger Test Runs

Shall I give her more power captain? Ben doing the hangar leak runs, all ops normal.

(Photo/post courtesy Matthew K)

Topping Up

A top up for Eureka, the helium regulator and hose at the ready with a six pack of 291 cubic feet He bottles.

(Photo/post courtesy Matthew K)

East Doors Open

Today we opened the east doors and did the test runs. East doors had been out of service for months so this is good news for the crew.

(Post/photo courtesy Matthew K)

Mastwagen 1

Mastwagen 1 as seen from top of Eureka at frame 6b while doing the bonding tests.

(Photo/post courtesy Matthew K)

Urban Airships (8-bit)

Michael over at mobile software developer Urban Airship sent us this picture of a cool t-shirt they did with an "8-bit airship". Sounds like a game idea to me!

New Carpet

The new carpet is in. Looks great!

Bag-top view

If you could sit on top of a helium storage bag, this is the view you would have. We would not recommend you try this at home.

Left Hand Engine Mount

Getting ready for the engines to go back on.

Supports Coming Down

New Carpet

Victor Giotto (left) and Marco (right) from Giottos Aircraft Interiors arrived today with new carpet for Eureka.

As salesman might say, our old carpet had seen many feet and had been "well loved".

Entering our 4th season, we look forward to starting off with an interior refresh.

Helium Delivery

A delivery of helium arrives from Linde...

At the start of the annual, we drain about 6000 cubic meters into our helium storage bags (3 bags holding approximately 2000 cubic meters each). Towards the end of the process, we re-fill first with the recovered helium, and then top the ship back up with an additional 1250-1500 cubic meters.

Ballonet Fog Testing

No, this wasn't in support of producing the horror film "Return of the Airship Zombies".

Each year the trusty Rosco 3000 comes out to assist in testing ballonet integrity.

At least this year we didn't give the fire department a heart attack.

(Photo Matthew Kilkerr)

New Gondola Logo Decal

After 4 years, the old logo had started to fade. The new one is made in a different manner (a solid color vinyl, rather than digital print on white vinyl) and should last longer.

Low Cloud Cover

Low cloud cover?

(photo Matthew Kilkerr)

One Week In

The helium is out, the fins are off, and the annual is well under way.

Achtung! Annual in Progress

Reflections

(Photo by Michael Cierpka)

Farmers Field

For more information, visit the Farmers Field web site...

Downtown LA

We're over downtown LA with the camera for the big announcement.

Fueling for a Special Mission

Eureka has 3 fuel tanks inside the hull, 1 each for left, right, and aft. Additionally Zeppelin has developed and test flown an extended range fuel tank in Germany, which mounts inside the gondola and increases mission time past the 24 hour mark.

Mooring Mast in Brazil

Andreas Burkart, University of Duesseldorf, writes us with the story and pictures of the Zeppelin mooring mast in Brazil:

Recife is a large metropolis on the east coast of Brazil. In the 1930s, along with Rio de Janeiro, it was a mooring place for Zeppelins. In Recife the mooring tower still exists in very good order and was an anchoring place for the airships LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" and LZ 129 "Hindenburg".

During a study project in the east of Brasil it was possible to visit this historical place. In the direct neighborhood of the Zeppelin tower there is a training station of the military police which uses parts of the area for shooting exercises. For visitors, the Zeppelintower is
easy to access, and taking pictures is no problem.

The former mooring field for airships no longer exists. The tower is now surrounded by mango trees, wild plants and decayed military buildings. But the historical worth of the technical monument was recognized by the government and due to several restorations, the tower is now in very good order. It's impressive how much the place has changed its face, since the last airship landed about 70 years ago, but you still can see the signs. The Brasilian people still remember the storys of their grandparents which sometimes had the luck to have seen an airship crossing the skies over Brazil.

Double Rainbow

The tournament is over. The ship heads to Long Beach from San Diego, and pilots Kate Board and Ben Travis catch a glimpse of this double vertical rainbow. A nice way to cap a successful week at the event.

San Diego

We are in San Diego this week for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. As this has become one of our regular locations, we have added San Diego to our poster art series. This is our first with the point of view being from the panoramic rear window of the gondola, and includes icons of the city such as the Coronado Bridge, aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and the Spirit of St. Louis.

Tiger Woods to Open His Season at Torrey Pines

While for readers of this blog, the excitement may well be in the air, the coming week is shaping up to be pretty interesting on the ground as well. The big news is that Tiger Woods will be returning to Torrey Pines, his first time at the event since 2008, opening his 2011 season at the Farmers Insurance Open this week.

Off to SoCal

The ship headed down to LA/San Diego today in preparation for covering the Farmers Insurance Open next week.

(Photos courtesy Brian Metzler/AVI)

Spot the Difference

A challenge from Captain Board: Can you spot the difference?

Post your best guess via comment to this post!

LZ130 on the eve of World War 2

Many people are not aware that Zeppelins still flew after the LZ129 "Hindenburg" disaster. One of them, LZ130, was used on the eve of World War 2, to probe the then-new British coastal radar system, code named "Chain Home"...

Boffins TV have producted a new documentary telling the facinating story of the development of British radar and the Zeppelin spy mission that nearly uncovered its secrets. In a frantic race against time 19 coastal Chain Home radar stations were built to provide Britain with its vital early warning. But the rapid construction of the towers soon came to the attention of German intelligence. On 3rd August 1939 the huge LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin airship crossed the North Sea on a daring wireless spy mission. What happened in the next 24 hours was to decide the future Battle of Britain. With exclusive interviews, reconstructions and expert analysis, we reveal of the truth behind the spy mission that changed the course of history.

You can check out video clips online, and the DVD is available in European and US formats, direct from the production company.

Zeppelin in Vegas?

Not exactly. But did see the Bowers and Wilkins 'Zeppelin Air' iPod speaker system at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Camera Station

Jeff from AVS doing a final on board equipment check.

Our Camera Today

Our camera today: cineflex hd

Early Start