Black Zeppelin (Wine)

Stillman is at it again -- this time with "Black Zeppelin", a 2009 Monterey Petite Syrah. Looking forward to giving it a try with some wild game this holiday season.

Available by the case, direct from the vintner, at Red Zeppelin Winery

Ben in Pilot Whites

Zeppelin Pilot-in-Training Ben Travis recently returned from ground school in Germany, and this morning he had his first training flight aboard Eureka here in the US, with Fritz as his instructor.

Go Ben!

Call Center Art

Eureka takes on a storm on the whiteboard in our call center.

Night Time Ops and Hangar Time Lapse

Check out this time-lapse and live footage of Eureka operating out of Moffett Field, CA, Hangar 2, courtesy of Singularity University.

A Loo With A View

Look what just hit my desk -- Luke Barclay's 'Good Loo Hunting,' a little coffee table book of some of the world's "most scenic cisterns and panoramic privies." And what's this featured on page 14? Eureka's private office, of course!

Zeppelin Anime - Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky

First the Zeppelin NT made a guest audio appearance in the Disney-Pixar movie UP. Now we hear from Hiroyuki Watanabe, our airship friend in Japan, that the NT has an on-screen role in a major Japanese animated feature, "Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky".

The DVD and Blu-ray versions are slated to be released November 16.

In the meantime, see this clip featuring the airship on YouTube.

Be sure to watch the whole thing, as there is a mix of animation and some live action shots of ship #2 in the closing credits (about 7 minutes into the clip).

Down at the Farm

Yesterday, the Farmers Airship made her debut on FarmVille, a virtual airship, protecting virtual crops.

Learn more at the Farmers facebook page.

Can you hear me now?

Matthew and Jeremy send these pictures of our transponder passing inspection, thanks to a visit from Barry Turner Avionics.

We are required to test it at least once every 2 years, and our last test was done back in 2008 upon arrival to the US in Beaumont, Texas.

Stanford Game

Jeffrey Vaughn sent us these photos he took aboard Eureka on Saturday while covering the Stanford Game.

This was our first football game, and the first football game ever to be covered by a Zeppelin!

Zeppelin Flautist

Mark may or may not have been the first to perform live music aboard Eureka, but he was definitely the first flautist! He peformed in a band in high school and college called, appropriately, the Hugo Eckener Septet.

Mark and his wife Julie flew with us during our visit to Seattle.

1925 Cadillac Phaeton

The first Farmers auto policy was written in 1928 for a 1925 Cadillac Phaeton similar to this example -- a beautiful car wonderfully restored.

Autoboatome

Featured in the new University of Farmers TV spots. I want one.

Farmers Hot Air Balloon

Checking out the Farmers hot air Balloon at an event in Agoura Hills.

Litchfield: Why Has America No Rigid Airships?

"Why Has America No Rigid Airships?"

Why indeed!

A recent find on Amazon, which arrived earlier this week and I found myself devouring upon arrival...

The book was published towards the end of 1945, just after WW2 had ended, and P. W. Litchfield, Chairman of the Board of Goodyear Tire and Rubber felt firmly that rigid airships had a place in postwar passenger and freight transportation.

The book is out of print, but as of this posting, there are a handful each of the hardback and softcover versions available used on Amazon.

AP Video: Tracking Whales from Above

AP has released their video essay by Ted Warren and Manuel Valdez of our whale research mission from earlier this month, which you can watch below.

Thanks again to Farmers for providing the flight time donation which made this all possible, and to the researchers from NOAA, Woods Hole and Center for Whale Research!

Modern Marvels

Adriano, Joe and Rudy of Modern Marvels. Rudy couldn't wait to get Zepp head!

Safely down

Noon and back in the hangar. Welcome home everyone!!

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