Amy
explores the support bus....
This is the truck they use to moor the blimp. It weighs 22 tons and
gets 3.5 miles to the gallon.
Coming in for a landing
Wind Shift! Everybody DUCK!!!
They
aren't going to land on the cars, are they???
Cleared
the cars and headed for the field.
Kicking
up some dust...
Is Uncle John really on that thing???
Raisint the mast to tie the blimp down
The
blimp connects with only 3 connections to the truck
Once
they tie down, they reel it in
Then
the truck moves off to the side
Once it is moored, they have to take other safety precautions
A
truck is positioned at the aft of the gondola.
The fuel is offloaded to insure that there will be no danger when the blimp
is buffetted about by the wind
This
is a view toward the gondola from just below the tail of the airship.
Captain Patrick points out the luxurious appointments while the ground
crew holds on so we can see....
The
gondola is made of a fiberglass laminate and apparantly requires a little
windex now and then.
the
night sign is HUGE! You can see the external wiring conduits in this
view.
Captain
Patrick explains about the helium venting systems
The
Pilot and co-pilot occupy these seats behind the control panel
Here
is a view from the front of the gondola. I guess you have to break
your arm to get the job of manning the controls instead of holding the
railing!
CEO
& President of Colleges.com shows off his new vehicle to mom, dad,
sisters and nephews..... (it's always good when you can come home from
college in style!)
One final photo as we head back to the busses.
We
head for lunch knowing that we have a great ride coming up in the winter!
People have surfed on in since 4/22/00
