17 Crew, 2 Trucks, 24/7

August 16, 2021 4:07 PM

What do you do with a blimp semi-rigid airship after it's done flying? (SLYT)
posted by backseatpilot (23 comments total)

I was at AirVenture that week and it was really surprising how nimble the airship is when it's in motion. The craft would pitch 30 degrees up and down like a fish swimming in an aquarium.

And how much money do you need to get Garmin to make you a custom blimp glass cockpit?
posted by JoeZydeco at 4:23 PM on August 16, 2021

And how much money do you need to get Garmin to make you a custom blimp glass cockpit?

It's hard out there for a blimp.
posted by mhoye at 5:24 PM on August 16, 2021 [7 favorites]

Am I delusional, or has there been a sharp uptick in Oshkosh-based FPPs lately?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2021

Am I delusional, or has there been a sharp uptick in Oshkosh-based FPPs lately?

This year’s event was just two weeks ago, so it’s still on everyone’s mind I guess.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:54 PM on August 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

The existence of dirigibles implies the existence of singular rigibles.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:08 PM on August 16, 2021 [8 favorites]

And how much money do you need to get Garmin to make you a custom blimp glass cockpit?

For all 6 displays? About $120k MSRP (4x G500H [that's a helicopter single-screen version, but the G500H is apparently $25k for the dual-display so about the same cost] + 2x GTN 650). With 3 blimps, maybe they get a volume discount.
posted by sysinfo at 6:17 PM on August 16, 2021

"Blimp avionics" doesn't seem to be something you can order off the shelf from Garmin...

but it's a kickass band name
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:48 PM on August 16, 2021

The Goodyear airships are built by Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen, Germany. You can book sightseeing flights or even fly one yourself.
posted by fairmettle at 7:24 PM on August 16, 2021

I was imagining something closer to how I pack up the inflatable mattress at the end of a camping trip.
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:42 PM on August 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Long years ago, I was driving down a street that ran by Peachtree-Dekalb airport in Atlanta. An airship like this came in to land. it crossed over the road JUST AHEAD OF ME, and honestly, I just hollered in delighted amazement.
posted by Archer25 at 7:43 PM on August 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

I grew up in a rural part of the eastern US, and moved to Los Angeles in my late 20s. One of the things I learned was that many things I thought were "weird things in the movies" were actually part of the Angelino experience (see also: single-panel garage doors). One of the Goodyear airships is based in Carson, I think, just east of the 405, so it was not uncommon to drive past it on the ground or see it overhead. "Look! The Goodyear blimp!" made a heck of a lot more sense in that context.
posted by Alterscape at 10:11 PM on August 16, 2021

An airship like this came in to land. it crossed over the road JUST AHEAD OF ME, and honestly, I just hollered in delighted amazement.

I'm pretty sure there was lots of hollering, but little if any delighted amazement when one of Goodyear's semi-rigid airships "crashed" into somebody's back yard during a thunderstorm not too far from their base in Pompano Beach a few years back. I believe the folks watching out their back window used the word surreal.

I put crashed in quotes because it wasn't that it fell out of the sky and destroyed the airship or anything, it was just pushed down by downdrafts from the thunderstorm and got stuck there for a bit. As I recall, the power outages from it hitting some lines on the way down was the worst of the problems caused. Everything else was just an inconvenience.

Apparently there was also a more serious incident in the same city in 2005 where one landed on a storage facility, so I'm having trouble finding a link to the more recent one. I suspect there was a lot more cursing involved in that one since serious damage was done. (No injury, though)

Turns out that flying those blimps is more dangerous than they let on, or at least more than I had any idea about. If it were my decision, I might spec some more powerful engines on the next one or consider basing them somewhere that thunderstorms aren't a daily occurrence most of the year.
posted by wierdo at 3:47 AM on August 17, 2021

And how much money do you need to get Garmin to make you a custom blimp glass cockpit?

I don't think they did? When they appear at 1:35 in the video, the Garmin MFDs are showing standard attitude and navigational views. The blimp-specific parts are on the two larger central screens, which are showing the same views as in this 2003 photo of an earlier Zeppelin NT cockpit, where they're paired with a different, older set of MFDs and standalone instruments.

I expect the blimp-specific bits are something developed by the Zeppelin company as part of the aircraft.
posted by automatronic at 4:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Interestingly, I think I read BARCO in the upper left corner of those blimp-specific MFDs. I had no idea Barco made MFDs -- I know them mainly from high-end projectors and video processing hardware.
posted by Alterscape at 7:11 AM on August 17, 2021

With 3 blimps, maybe they get a volume discount....if you shop in the blimp district you'll find deep discounts...it is next door to the hammock district...
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:33 AM on August 17, 2021

As I recall, the power outages from it hitting some lines on the way down was the worst of the problems caused. Everything else was just an inconvenience.

The fact that a bag of helium that size can hit a live high-voltage power line and the result is "inconvenience" and not "oh the huge manatee" is actually kind of remarkable to me.
posted by The Bellman at 9:16 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

The Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, not helium.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:23 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Of course! I'm an idiot--thank you, Greg_Ace!
posted by The Bellman at 10:04 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

It's hard out there for a blimp.

Well. Semi-rigid, anyway.
posted by gurple at 4:35 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

I have no idea what certification costs are, but Garmin uses it heavily in marketing efforts so I'm guessing it is subsidized if not nearly completely off-the-shelf.
posted by geoff. at 7:18 PM on August 17, 2021

The existence of dirigibles implies the existence of singular rigibles.

Monorigibles?
posted by TedW at 5:34 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'd personally go with a simple "rigible". But whatever floats your...uh, blimp.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:57 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I was a USN Parachute Rigger. I took classes in Hangar 1, built to accommodate The Hindenburg.
I am very much a proponent of lighter-than-air technology. Blimps really aren't where it's at.
posted by Goofyy at 12:49 PM on August 19, 2021