Jumping for Joy (or out of relief?)

Alex (Airship Ventures) and Michael (Zeppelin) relieving some post-Jungfernflug (maiden flight) stress on a trampoline in Oberstadt Meersburg that evening.

Yay

The ship flew and landed and is hangared. More later.
All are very happy here!

Permission to Fly

Roberts grin says it all. He's holding the paperwork that shows everyone is signed off on #4 and, weather permitting, she can now be taken for a test flight!

Still waiting

It's about 4.00pm here and the weather outside is still gray and a little gusty. #3 has been flying all day which is good news. The engineers are mulling over the results of this mornings testing, and everyone is in a state of suspense, waiting to know if the ship will fly today. I'm particularly interested as I'm meant to be heading back to the USA tomorrow and my method of getting from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt will depend on whether I need to wait to see if the airship will fly in the morning!

But while we wait, here's a wonderful picture taken earlier from #3 of #4 on the ground by Michael Häfner.

A nice rack...

As part of our preparation to handle special missions (air sampling, imaging, comms, etc), Robert and I spent part of the afternoon checking out the floor mounted flight-test rack. In the not too distant future, we will have a gadget-rack of our own.

How do you say "Barcalounger" in German?

One of the many fantastic things you can do with a Zeppelin is have a "flying boardroom". In this picture, Robert demonstrates some of the extended range features of the prototype barcalounger, erm, swivel seat. The real nice thing about these seats is that in an 8 or 10 passenger configuration, you can arrange it such that all the passengers can face each other, carry on a conversation, and catch wonderful views from the window (side or rear) that ends up in front of them.

Neither snow, nor rain...

Working with Wolfgang von Zeppelin over the past few months, we learned that the ship will be carrying the usual German first flight covers that are done by the Kinderdorf Flugpost to benefit the "Childrens Village" project. She will also be carrying a handful of our own envelopes. This morning we quickly made up a small pile of our Airship Ventures notecard envelopes with a rubber stamp imprint of the NT, one of the USS Macon (ZRS-5) and proper German postage stamps. It will get a Friedrichshafen cancellation on the first flight day as well as the on board cancellation. We will then carry these on our trip halfway across the world, collecting cancellations as we go, and they will finally arrive at Moffett Field and get cancelled by the post office there. These little treats, which will also have pilot and other signatures, will be given to our wonderful team, some folks at Zeppelin, a couple of museums and we will have a small number left over which we will use for good causes to be announced.

how many designers does it take to run a webcam?

Us 2 designers in California & Rob the illustrator in Rhode Island were up late and up early for a couple days glued to the Zeppelin webcam. We got really good at watching airplanes and race cars wheeled into buildings across the street, and screaming at the computer when some mysterious 3rd or 4th person somewhere in the world would receive their control of the camera and point... at what? Since we already felt the camera was ours, we took turns sharing the investigation of every inch of the Friedrichshafen airfield (did you know the airfield is the first airfield in the world?!). Can you find the bird poop on the top of a light fixture?

And what did we get for our efforts? a guy cutting the lawn, although it was kind of fun to slew pitch and zoom the camera to follow him up and down the rows

why didn't she come out?, what's up, too windy?? - we saw the wind sock - and too rainy?? - looked damp???

So today we were about to get off the camera, but we stayed up longer than we planned, chatting on the phone when suddenly, the doors are opening the doors are opening!!!! ahhhheie!!!

hey, the nose is coming out!!

Why don't I see it, Ahhhh!!, My connection is crashed! OK. back in again, and there she is, with our San Francisco, Hollywood, Treasure Island - stamps! weee, looks great.

HEY who has the webcam, somebody is pointing at nothing!! ahh, back to the Zeppelin, in full out on the field.

Thanks for letting us be a part of this journey - Maria, Rob & Matthew

Road Trip Part 2

While all the excitement is happening here in Germany, our intrepid survey team of Scott Danneker (Chief Pilot) and Chris Sandford (ZLT's Ground Crew Chief), remain on the road, working steadily westwards from Galveston to San Francisco. They are checking out all the likely airfield and locations where the airship will have to go. Here are their latest pictures.
Sierra Blanca, TX - the highest ground that all airships have to transit over on their way to the west coast.
The field at Deming NM, well known by airship folks.
Dragoon Pass, AZ, will pose no problem for the Zeppelin.
Goodyear Field, Phoenix, AZ.
Thanks guys!

Whee-heee

Actually, I'm sure that's not quite what is going through Fritz Günthers mind as he gets into the pilots seat of #4 and prepares to begin a couple of hours of full engine run ups and checks. But I think his smile says it all.

Older Sister

A great sight, even on a gray and windy morning, two Zeppelin NT's on their masts. Some passengers arriving early for the first flight of the day on #3 were able to enjoy being part of this historic occasion.

Watching...

Herr Brandt, the CEO of Zeppelin (foreground) with Herr Günther, Head of Flight Operations, watching the wind and weather carefully as the ship emerges.

Just so everyone knows

We thought we'd make sure she was recognizable as the Airship Ventures ship. The concept is similar to the luggage labels or stamps of old. She's got quite a journey ahead of her, but she'll be Going Places. The stamps you see here, drawn by Rob Walker and designed by Matthew and Maria, are San Francisco, Hollywood, Treasure Island, Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley, Yosemite and Moffett Field. Better pictures of the branding later.

Hello Ship!

I can hear the engines of #4 in the background as I sit in a warm conference room and type this. It's very cold this morning and overcast, but before the wind got too high, the decision was made to take her out of the hangar. Watched by an assortment of engineers, Zeppelin personnel and ourselves who had all managed to get in before 7am, #4 slowly came out of the hangar.

While we're waiting..

A weather front has moved in and the full run up engine tests which were to be done outside this morning have not happened. We are all watching the weather with a close eye to see when we might get the window for the final checks and then a window to fly. Watch this space.

In the meantime, here is a great picture from last week of feet inside the ship. I was fortunate to be able to go inside the Zeppelin before the helium was put in and to see the whole structure, ballonets (air bags) etc. It was quite an experience. The Zeppelin engineers were doing final pinhole checks on the air bags with a fog machine, having already done it with light. When the time came to exit the ship, we went down through the front ballonet, which was rather like walking into a dense nightclub atmosphere!

Sneeky peak

Sigh, there was so much sunshine last week, but the ship wasn't ready. Now she's ready, it rains.

I was on the airfield a week ago and was able to take this shot as #3 was emerging from the hangar. Yes, that's #4 sitting there with the Zeppelin NT brand on her.

Faking it

The Zeppelin NT simulator.
I want one of these.

"Thumbs Up" or "Fancy Meeting You Here"

Noted airship historian and author John Provan just happened to be out at Zeppelin this week with a film crew for a documentary project. Can't wait to see the results of his new project!

Belly Buttons -- An Innie or an Outie?

This was the last little bit of the envelope to be "sewn up". For better or worse, I decided to call this the "belly button" of the ship.

Brmmm Brmmm

Oliver, one of Zeppelins pilots, sat in the pilot seat of #4 this morning. He was accompanied by a number of engineers crouched around the cockpit. Outside, a team of mechanics prepped and waited. They were going to fire up the engines for the first time.

A few coughs and each engine was turned over a few times to get the oil pressure up. Finally, with all the safety precautions in place, the fuel valves were opened and in turn, each engine was fired up and run for a while. Much shaking of hands and big smiles!

As I type this, the conference room is filled with a low throb as the airship is in the hangar on the other side of the wall and they are continuing to test the engines. She almost feels alive.