Stadium & Arena blimp pilots

[blimppilot]

It would be nice to create a list of blimp pilots who fly in Arenas & Satdiums listing what blimps, venues, and other such stuff.
I will start it out with mine:
1 - 23 foor Aerostar blimp used for the Minnesota Twins baseball, Minnesota Vikings football & U of M gpphers football in the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis.
2 - 19 foot custom Target dog by Aerostar used at Minnesota Timberwolves basketball games
3 - 14 foot Areostar blimp also used at Timberwolves games.
4 - 14 foot blimp also by Aerostar used at Lynx WNBA games

I also have the first blimp Aerostar sold: 13 foot blimp for the Timberwolves, Yes I have been flying blimps here for 14 years!

[blimppilot]

here are the Target center blimps

[blimppilot]

and the dome blimp in action at the playoff last fall

[Karl B²]

I've probably seen your work! Attended exactly one game that featured a blimp, T-Wolves at the Target Center in the early '90s. I remember hoping for a T-shirt release along with my young daughter.

Ever have any mishaps? I wouldn't think injuries are a risk, though a drunken fan with a handful of blimp probably wouldn't be very good for the blimp...

[Stevens AeroModel]

Kinnic^2 The Biggest danger when flying is poking someones eye out with the transmiter antenna - lots of action on the floor where you fly from. A rubber ducky antenna helps avoid eye injuries :) .

Getting into the crowd typically poses more of a threat to your airship then the crowd - provided your pilot excersises good judgement and you have equiped your bird with solid electronics- knicking someone with a blade should be a rarity. Usually crowd strikes result in a fan getting a hold of the largest beach ball they have ever seen.

BlimpPilot - there used to be a forum for blimps but there was never much action out there. There are a few others lurking about the pages here....

I opperate 13', 11.5', 10' blimps for Colorado College, USAFA, and various trade shows / conventions around the country. All of my equipment is from Mobile Airships - Over all the flying has been very good to me I have got my hands on the sticks at some pretty interesting venues... Concerts are always the most fun... The last was a job in Phoenix flying the Rolling Stones Airship a 20' indoor electric.

-Bill

[mt_100]

I don't fly it but there is a large Griffin blimp at the Grand Rapids Griffin hockey games.

[bearship-1]

I fly a peck 13' at all Southwest Missouri State University basketball game, about 34 games a year. My wife and I have done this 8 years. It great fun and we get paid to do it!
Gary

www.wallacewireworks.com

[Fred Bronk]

Moving to Special Interest, Blimps!!!!!!

FB

[Stevens AeroModel]

Ah... so that's where they hid the blimp section - I am still finding my way around after the re-org... What's the matter Fred - can't the blimp guys hang with the parkies? <JK> Thank you for finding the appropriate spot for the thread :)

-Bill

[daveWCO]

These blimps are fascinating. What type of equipment does it take to fly these beasts in an arena? I've never seen one at our local, indoor sports events so opportunity might be knocking.

Thanks,

DaveWCO

[Stevens AeroModel]

Check you www.blimpguys.com you can find all sorts of info on the different size blimps.

The equipment is a mish-mash of R/C car and Airplane technologies. While a standard 3ch radio will provide enough funcionality to control the airship - most run 4 or more channels for Sirens, Coupon Drop, and Video Control.

-Bill

[daveWCO]

Thanks Bill

DaveWCO

[blimppilot]

Flying blimps for 14 years has lead to several interesting stories and meeting lots of nice people. The one big thing is that almost all (yes there are exceptions) of the athletes I have met are just big, Really big kids. Even Shack asked to fly the blimp his first year. Yes there have been some minor incidents. but it is really just a giant beachball! if operated with caution. When you spin a 11 X 6 prop on a Astro 25 with 14 cells you better pay attention!

[SargeNZ]

hey guys i need a little info

how much helium (ie in litres) do i need for every 10 grams of model?

and how expensive is helium?


BTW we are about 100 ft above sea level here

[Stevens AeroModel]

Helium lifts roughly .0640 lbs for each cubic foot. I'll let you do the math.

At Sea Level. For small models - the party balloon cylinders work well. Otherwise your best bet is to buy or lease a larger tank. I have been charged anywhere from $22-$80 for a "K" size tank of gas (240 cu ft). Check your welding stores and welding gas suppliers for the larger quantities.

-Bill

[SargeNZ]

how many cubot ft are in one of those party cylinders?

know where I can get any free plans?

[Stevens AeroModel]

Usually 20 CU FT - I have seen some that exceed that slightly. Check out the free section of R/C microflight - I believe that David Lewis posted some plans there.

-Bill

[flyfalcons]

Just saying hi, we're getting our blimp business going with a 30' Grizzly blimp and a 12' indoor Hummel blimp. We're using the name Promo Blimps, and hope to start doing jobs as soon as possible. We're also in the early planning process of offering turnkey blimps of various sizes, using what we've learned from the blimps that we own. Many improvements including carbon gondola and fins, etc, at a reasonable price. Here's a shot of our Grizzly; it's a lot of fun to fly in calm weather or light winds.

[Majortomski]

Thanks for the thread arenablimp! I'm the son of an engineer who worked for Goodyear Aerospace for 34 years. Dad started on the big GPW-2 radar picket blimps and ended with doing the drafting for the night signs on the bags of the current Goodyear ships. So with helium in my blood in 1999 I designed the blimp you see in the avitar. They have evolved over three years to now having vacuuformed gondolas. I fly almost exclusively for the Oklahoma City Blazers Hockey team, in the Centeral Hockey League (CHL) in the Ford Center in OKC. We sell the complete blimp, radio, batteries, charging equipment and shipping cases for $5995.00. It takes one "T" bottle of helium to operate for an entire weekend if you can park it inflated overnight. It is 13 feet long, and its empty weight is 13 pounds. It is currently flying with two side banners and ususally a pound and a half of lead balast. The actual operating weight is between 1/2 ounce up to 6 ounces. We drive three stock speed 400's turning Zinger 6x3 wood props. We get a solid 19 minutes of operation between battery changes. We get our helium for free (sorta) by "selling" the helium suplier advertising on the lower fin of the blimp. "Helium supplied by Airgas of OKC." But a T bottle sells for $95.00 around here. And if the cost sounds high please think like an advertising company and not a hobbiest. EACH side of the blimp can be sold for $10,000.00 a SEASON. So you could be looking at $14,000.00 gross profits the first year. Bags usually last about three years if you have to fold it and store it after each game.

:D

[daveWCO]

Interesting thread! It's always nice when one can actually make money with a hobby.

How do you indoor event flyers deal with the powerful A/C and heating inlets? Are they easily avoided or do you have the oomph to power through the "winds?"

daveWCO

[Stevens AeroModel]

ooooomph

[Majortomski]

oooomp and learn where they are and fly over or under them! :p

[SargeNZ]

righteo guys!

I have some access to Helium, the guys at the shop called it "baloon gas"

anyways i hear that normal plastic, ie rubbish bag stuff, will only hold Helium for a day or so

so where can i get this mylar stuff?

[Stevens AeroModel]

Emergency Blanket material is one source.

-Bill

[daveWCO]

I'm in the process of contacting the local indoor and outdoor sports/concert folks here regarding flying blimps to see if this is doable here.

The initial investment sounds very reasonable. If all looks good, I'd buy a RTF blimp, as Thomas described.

Thanks again guys!

daveWCO

[SargeNZ]

and that material will stop my blimp going up in smoke?

hehe

[Stevens AeroModel]

Use Helium and you'll have no smoke.

[wildpalms]

Wow, these blimps are quite impressive. We have nothing like them here. The only thing I've seen come close were the BA sponsered computer controlled beasts that flew at the Millenium Dome.

I did see that the covering film people http://www.oracover.de do 'oracover air' which is designed for blimps up to and over 4m in length.

--
Dave

[alwyn]

hello!

im staying in malaysia. i've been fascinated with airships for a long time and i recently began constructing a blimp for fun. the information and knowledge bout rc blimp here is limited and i have trouble locating a suitable motor-prop and esc for my blimp, its gonna be a 7 foot blimp only and will use two electric motors for thrust on either side of teh gondola. Hope you guys can help me out and advice me on the best combination of electrics fro my blimp.
all advice are welcomed...

[Guga]

Hi there Pilots, I´m currently flying indoor & outdoor blimps for Marketing Actions in Brasil, you can see some fotos enclosed of these babys built by us, visit ou web site www.blimpshow.com.br.
Regards Guga :)

[daniel geery]

Howdy folks. Fascinating stuff here, and I'm pleased to find so many fellow helium heads!

Here's a site that may be of interest to you, regarding the project(s) I've been working on for a few years. www.hyperblimp.com

Best wishes,
Daniel Geery
Salt Lake City

[bps]

We flew a 12 footer inside for hockey games last year. Was a cold place in the middle of winter. Somewhat limited area to fly in but the crowd loved it. Do not know if we will be doing it this year though. Low celing lights and ventilation ducts were the worst part. Touch a light and you have an instant Hindenburge moment.

JEB :)

[galaxyrpv]

My buisness is out of the Dallas Ft Worth area in Texas. I operate the blimps for the Dallas Stars pro Hockey team (we built their blimp) and the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. My web site is www.galaxyrpv.com. I also build outdoor blimps from 35 ft to 50 ft. Here is pictures of one of my 35 ft outdoor blimps. They are built to fit inside a trailer as the last pictures shows.

[galaxyrpv]

These are the indoor blimps I operate. I own the white one.

[blimppilot]

The mavericks blimp looks like a Aerostar blimp. What did you do to the power system to boost the performance? I have several of the 14 footers and have been experimenting with different packs, props, gear drives etc.

[galaxyrpv]

The Mavericks blimp was made by Mobile airships or known as blimp guys. We installed brushless motors and our control system. The blimp came with speed 500 motors and used Hitech forward and reverse car speed controls. The system was totaly inadiquate and failed many times before they brought me in to fix and operate it. If you want to see the performance of one of my blimps you can watch the videos as this link, http://www.galaxyrpv.com/blimp_indoor_pic_vid.html .

[bps]

Nice Blimps and projects. You have a very well presented web page. This all looks like a barrel of fun and if you can make a living at the same time, well it just does not get any better than that. Keep the information coming!

Thanks

JEB :)

[blimppilot]

Now if I could just get the Timberwolves to give me a little $$ I could move up to brushless motors. What motor/prop and batteries are you using?

[galaxyrpv]

It looks like your blimps where made by Areostar. I am very familiar with their system. Its barely adequate, but I can upgrade their blimps to fly properly in a big arenas. You should have them send me the gondolas, steering fins, and radios and I can update them.

[blimppilot]

Yes all of the blimps I operate are made my Aerostar. Blimp one is actually the original 13 foot prototype and is 15 years old but is stll airwothyI could send you one of my complete setups (any idea on cost) and then would it still use 6 cell packs ? - I have 3 14.5 footers for the Target center and a 23 foot blimp for the Metrodome. It has plenty of power- I can actually get it past vertical - I found it easiest to go full power in reverse and then depending on if the air gets under or over the tail fins just going with it. Scared the heck out of the Account exec that day!!!

[commandermike]

I live in the Philippines and we are about to start flying RC blimps in different cities around the country. Here helium is about $100 per k cylinder and only available in a few key cities.

Has anyone ever tried to re-compress helium from a blimp back into a cylinder, instead of venting it out and refilling with new gas? As we plan to travel between islands, it will not be cost effective to try and ship an inflated envelope, nor can we afford to vent gas and refill, everytime we change venues?

I am thinking using an air compresor (normally used to fill scuba tanks) to re-compress the helium gas each time we pack up... but would appreciate some inputs before we do.

[commandermike]

I'm an American living in the Philippines, but my home is in good ole' Tulsa...

I have never seen a blimp fly indoors, but purchased a 15' indoor blimp about 6 months ago. I have flown it about 10 hours already and am about to start flying some indoor events for advertisers. Can you share some of your experiences flying games/events that you think may help me avoid some early mistakes.

My first impression is that there is little room to operate inside the stadium (we have two, 6,000 and 22,000 seats) down on the floor, during basketball games.

Also, do you fly custom painted envelopes or banners?

Thanks

[galaxyrpv]

I believe I talked to you last a few months ago about outdoor blimps. I have not heard back from you. I have talked to several helium supply companies and many pump and compressor companies and as far as I have been able to find out there is now viable way to recover helium from a low pressure system to a high pressure bottle, without a lot of helium loss and contamination. Thats why I have designed my outdoor blimps to fit inside an enclosed trailer inflated to save the cost of helium. On the indoor blimps the customer is charged for the helium so that is not an expence to me.

[commandermike]

Galary,

Thank you for the reply. Yes, we have spoken a short while back regarding outdor blimps... We are still laying the groundwork over here for this new advertising meduim and should be calling you again soon about an ourdoor ship.

By way of background, our company currently provides traffic reporting services to 20 Metro Manila radio stations, text messaging services to another 150+ radio and tv networks nationwide. We also operate our own banner towing business, so the indoor and outdoor blimp services will just be additional ad mediums for our "below the line" media sales.

Regarding the recompression of helium... I appreciate your feedback very much and hope others will throw in their 2 cents on this issue... However, I still do not feel that there is any technical reason why helium gas can not be recompressed from the blimp back into cylinders.

If I were a helium supply company, I suspect that I too would be reluctant to share with you how easy it may be to recompress the gas back into cylinders for reuse, knowing that by doing so I might be greatly limiting my future gas sales potential... And from a strictly legal perspective, having the gas user recompress gas back into the suppliers cylinders would surely open up some liability concerns, particularly in the good ole' USA.

But I will continue to research this issue further. If you or anyone else has ever tried something like this (to recompress helium gas) or would like to know more about the possibility of recompressing gas, please feel free to jump into this discussion thread.

[WillowPtarmigan]

Cool. Has anyone built a RC dirigible? It would even be cooler. :cool: :D :)

[Guga]

CommanderMike,
Helium gas once is decompressed from the cylinder degenerates at a rate of 3% a day minimum, depending on the metereological conditions, that is why it is not wise to try to recuperate the gas once it is in use.
This has been informed by the engineers from AIR Products In the helium data sheet,
Best regards M.Franco

[commandermike]

I understand that helium gas leaks or flows through most envelope materials at varying degrees, while under pressure because of the small molicule size, but what do you mean by "degenerates"? Do you mean that air or other contamanents somehow escape back thru the pressurized envelope, (the wrong way) to contaminate the gas?

:)

[Guga]

CommanderMike.
Yes unfortunately the hellium gas literaly rottens (or it gets contaminated) at a rate of 3 to 5% a day depending on several temperature, moisture, changes in atmosferic pression and other factors. Even if you would put it in a glass container, or even in the vaccum of space.
The cheaper would be to use Hydrogen, this one does not degenerate, but as you know it has a terrifying condition to explosion when mixed with oxigen.
Regards , M. Franco

[commandermike]

If helium does get contaminated at the rate of 3-5% per day, how do large, full size blimps manage their helium gas? Assuming a 3% daily contamination rate, after only one month, 99% of the gas will be "contaminated"?

Perhaps I need some more edu-m-cation regarding compressed gas and more specifically, the properties of helium gas. I do apreciation your inputs. Can you direct me to any additional information regarding this issue? I need to solve this problem and I think re-compression may be the best option.

Regards, Mike

[galaxyrpv]

Here is my 2 cents on helium digression. From what I have experienced, and what makes since to me, is that we are all using balloon grade helium, which is not pure helium. What happens is the pure helium seeps through the bag material and leaves the impurities behind thus lowering lift capacity even after the bag is topped off with fresh helium. The bag becomes essentially a filter. I have to purge my outdoor blimps once every 2 to 3 months, this is determined when the blimp will no longer ballast correctly after being topped off. The purge procedure consists of topping of the bag and letting the helium settle for about an hour. Then I vacuum about a 1/3 of the volume from the lowest point, and refill the bag with fresh helium. This removes all the impurities and the blimp is back to original lift capacity.

As far as the pump goes, I have talked to several pneumatic pump companies and the main problem is it is difficult to pump any gas substance without air contamination, especially under high-pressure applications. Most gasses that are pumped are not affected by air contamination. What I have been told over and over is that there is not enough of a demand to recover helium to justify building a pump that does not have air contamination. This does not apply to liquid systems, because liquids are easier to seal. We have considered building our own pump, and it can be done, but after going over design specs it is just too expensive for us to do.

[Guga]

I recomend you to visit one of the real Blimp dock close to where you live and pay them a visit, I lived close to the dock of the Eagle in LA, where I did some flying time and also participated on maintenance of the real thing, Visited professionaly AHA advanced Hybrid Aircraft, (Bruce Blake is the head engineer and owner) in Eugene, also AEROS (russian company that manufactures the Big babes in Chatsworth CA) Igor Pasternak is the Head Chief Officer. Global Skyship in Windermere FL. ia a British company knowhow, Owner is Julian M. Bencher.
The lightship Group, in Orlando, Jim Dexter Director of operations, and the former Goodyear, ABC American Blimp Corporation, James Thiele president and CEO of one of the largest airship manufacturers in the globe.
Also 21st Century Airships in Canada, Holkan Kolting, Chairman and CEO
That is what I gather from them, after spending at least a week with each of them. I post below some of their personal cards for you.
Feel free to contact them they are all Helium Headed normal guys.
Regards M.Franco

[Guga]

Sorry about the Aeros Card now it goes right side up.
Maybe these guys can convince you or give the information you want to hear.
Regards, M.Franco

[commandermike]

Thank you for the clairification... I did not consider the inert contaminants that are in "balloon gas", but had given some thought to contaminants that might potentially enter the envelope during the filling and refilling processes.

My thoughts were that assuming contaminants did somehow enter the bag, or were there as inert gasses supplied in the balloon grade gas, that I could remove much of the contaminants by simply removing gas from the top of the envelope (the inverse of your purging process...) leaving contaminated gas in the lower portion of the bag. Perhaps some measured field trials will help determine the best "ratio" of contaminated gas to vent out, to properly clean up the remaining helium.

Assuming this would work as described, the next step would be to research exactly "how much" other contaminants (or gasses) would be introduced into the recompressed helium. Admittedly, I dont know much about this process... but would imagine that a final "purge" of the reinflated gas envelope would eliminate most of the contaminants wheather from the original balloon gas, or from the recompression process.

Either way, we are currently paying about about $100 per K cylinder for balloon grade helium gas, (which is not always available) so as you can imagine, we would like to explore this concept further, to see if it may help us reduce our costs and dependence on new gas.

[commandermike]

Guga, Thank so much for the contact info... perhaps I'll shoot of f a couple of faxes and see what happens.

[KevinM]

Here is the blimp I fly. This flight was at a Eastern New Mexico University Basketball game. Does ok..needs a motor upgrade.

[galaxyrpv]

I am currently updateing the motors and drive system for that blimp. That is a Mobile Airships blimp right.

[KevinM]

Sure is.

[Guga]

Does any one know or can suggest, a good company that makes insurance and liability for Indoor Blimp Pilots?
Thanks M.Franco

[Majortomski]

Guga, I just have the customer cover me under their contract with the facility. In my case a Hockey team. The blimp is no threat compared to frozen hockey pucks.

Tom

[Guga]

Thank you Tom, but is not a law that you have to have Liability in order to fly in a event, or maybe inside of a shopping center?
M Franco

[plumb]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2905391&postcount=478

Cant figure how to move the picture but here is a link to pictures of the blimb Earl and I fly for the magic. we are the latest pilots for this team and the blimp is fairly new so yes it has its problems but its a blast to fly!

Brad

[Majortomski]

Man, that thing's a monster!

[plumb]

you should try and fly it!

Brad

[blimppilot]

Just working the bugs out of my latest upgrades for a gondola on one of the blimps I operate at the Mn Timberwolves games: AXI 2808/24 with Jeti speed control using APC slowfly props 2 9X3.8 on each motor (poormans fourblade) each running on 6 cell pack. this is so much better than the stock speed 400 & 6x3 props Current draw is way down & flights are much longer best of all payload is way up as now I can easily carry t shirts and still fly thru the air conditioning down blasts. even making 10 inch prop guards I have only needed to remove 2 sticks of lead! not bad for a 14 foot blimp. Pictures to follow.

[Majortomski]

I can easily carry t shirts and still fly thru the air conditioning down blasts. even making 10 inch prop guards I have only needed to remove 2 sticks of lead! not bad for a 14 foot blimp. Pictures to follow.

COOL!

[plumb]

Majortomski

Pictures? What do they pay? Do you own the blimp or does a team sponser? ac downblast that change from time to time arent my friend:D

Brad

[hotairflyer]

This is a great thread :) , I'm wanting to get into the arena/tradeshow blimp biz so I wish it would come back to LIFE!!!

[fhhuber506771]

CommanderMike.
Yes unfortunately the hellium gas literaly rottens (or it gets contaminated) at a rate of 3 to 5% a day depending on several temperature, moisture, changes in atmosferic pression and other factors. Even if you would put it in a glass container, or even in the vaccum of space.
The cheaper would be to use Hydrogen, this one does not degenerate, but as you know it has a terrifying condition to explosion when mixed with oxigen.
Regards , M. Franco

Umm... Helium is an element.. for it to become something else would mean it had to have some form of radioactive decay. (sorry.. not what's going on)

If its sealed in a glass container.. its not going to get contaminated any more after the container is sealed. (thats the key.. sealing it..)

The rubber party balloons are so porous that the helium gets though them in just a couple of days. Mylar (aluminized plastic really...) is less permeable.. and then other materials are even less permeable. If the material is TRUELY impermeable.. then you won't get loss or contamination.

As for recovery.. why does it necessarilly have to be pumped back to the original high pressure tank? If you know you are going to do some recovery for the purpose of reducing costs, but don't want to try to do the nearly impossible task of pumping it back to the (what 2000 psi?) tank... how about a LARGE lower pressure tank.. say 60 psi? and if it gets a bit contaminated.. its your recovered helium... its stuff you would have lost completely. Maybe you can recover it for 2 or 3 cycles instead of just one use. it would still be a large saving on gas cost if you do a lot with the large blimps wouldn't it?

NOW look at the cost of doing that vs the cost of that trailer. (and you'd be able to fold the blimp up into a small box) Which costs more? 60 or 100 psi capable cylinder on a trailer with a pump that will make that transfer. (with its lower wind resistance for the road... saving fuel costs...) or.. that huge trailer?

Its at least worth a cost/benefit analysis...

Look at a problem sideways. You might solve it. If you keep beating on it from the same head on direction.. you ALWAYS get the same answer.

(and no.. I don't know for sure if its practical.. but.. it might work...)

[galaxyrpv]

I agree with your assessment of the leakage of helium. I find that transporting my blimps inflated in an enclosed trailer is the most cost effective technique. I pass the cost of fuel usage and top off helium to the customer, and I still come in under the cost of a typical tow banner rate. Re-inflating the blimp for every job adds too much to labor costs and wear and tear on the bag. It also allows me to perform several jobs a day at different locations without the cost of helium and the additional labor for assembly. I can have my blimps up and running within 10 minutes upon reaching the sight, and reloaded in the trailer in 5 minutes. For me it is simply more cost effective this way.

[Majortomski]

Glad too that this thread still has a life. My dad worked for Goodyear for over 30 years on the blimp programs. I believe that they had some sort of salvage pump with the ground crews for the 1:1 fleet.
I agree with galaxyrpv, when we were looking at going into out door work the trailer looked like the only way to go. The simple logistics of hoping that there is a helium supplier with enough gas on hand at each venue is the main stopping point. So as he does keep it inflated.

I had the "contaminated" event hit me this weekend. I believe that if your blimp has enough little holes then air is actually sucked into the bag through lower holes as the helium leaks out the upper holes. Then when you go to top off the helium, the bag now has a "pool" of air laying in the bottom of the bag. This weekend the leakage on my oldest blimp was so bad that it would only fly with all of the fins, accesories, and ballast removed. The only fix is to either "burp" the bag by letting it stand verticle so that the air "pool" falls down on the fill valves, then let the helium blow the air back out of the fill valves or completely deflate and fresh reinflate.

[hotairflyer]

Just curious, what insurance carrier is used and how much the policies are for? Obviously its some type of liability coverage, but to what specs?
Is AMA insurance useable under professional conditions?

[galaxyrpv]

AMA is not applicable in a commercial environment. I have a balloon company that insures my outdoor blimp up to $1,000,000 liability coverage. The cost is $600 to $700 a year. IMC Balloon agency the name of the company.

[Majortomski]

Just curious, what insurance carrier is used and how much the policies are for? Obviously its some type of liability coverage, but to what specs?
Is AMA insurance useable under professional conditions?

I contract with the event/venue owner to cover me and the blimp. In this case a Hockey team. And as prev. stated AMA won't touch this with a 10-foot pole because it is comml.

And, in 7 years of blimp flying I had my first injury recently. A fan decided the blimp was too close to him and took a swat at it. His index finger caught the yaw fan tip on and was sliced open. Trouble is the blimp was passed him when he took the swat. Team provided him with first aid and "compensation".

[BlimpGuy]

It is so nice to have found this group. I am winding up my second year flying for the Gwinnett Gladiators, an ECHL hockey team. Our arena is a beautiful new 11,500 seat facility (for hockey), more for concerts.

The airship we have now is a new 11 footer made by Mobile Airships. Our first blimp was an Aerostar 12 footer that was with the team in its old location down in Mobile, AL. It had lots of power but after 8 seasons it leaked helium at a rate that we had to top it off between each flight! We went through probably 12 large tanks of helium last year! But it was fun and flew well.

Our new one looks great and we only have 4 more home games left in the season, not counting playoffs. We are only halfway through our second tank of helium so far (including the initial fill). Having a new envelope makes a huge difference on helium loss! :-)

I saw in earlier posts that having kids chase the blimp is a problem and we have the same difficulties. The ushers are unable or unwilling to do anything about it so here is what I do. As soon as I see one or two kids going after the blimp (and 1-2 changes to 15-20 real fast) I immediately cut across the ice, leaviong them scratching their behinds. If it occurs on the other side of the ice, I repeat. Our announcer is pretty good at spotting that too so he'll come over the PA in his booming voice and ask them AND the parents to stop pursuing the blimp. So far, no injuries this year that I have been made aware of.

My only complaint with this blimp is its power. Our old Aerostar, although it looked a bit worn out had bookoo power to back out of the upper seats or out of trouble whereas this new one has no reverse to speak of and just too little power when you need it. It took both myself and my fellow blimp pilot over half the season to get "comfortable" with this new one due to its 'anemic' tendencies. I do not expect a blimp to perform like a .40 sized Stik plane with a YZ .91 on it, but comparing this new one to a 10+ year old ship we had last year in performance....not even close.

We have gotten pretty proficient at adding air and helium when she gets 'wrinkled', at the beginning of the season we had maybe a pound and a half of ballast to where now we only need an ounce or two in order to get her ballasted for the night. We fly 4 times, starting at when the doors open (one hour before puck drop), after the pre-game warmups and during each intermission. We drop coupons during all 4 flights. (the ping-pong ball drops intrigue me--I need to learn more about those).

Our drop mechanism is a two way pin-type but it makes dropping just one or two coupons very difficult. We purchased the other type with the coiled drop mechanism, but have had trouble with the servo (been sent back once already, no joy) continuously revolving and jamming up. I prefer the coiled-type although it takes longer to load you do not wind up bombing one small section with 20-30 coupons.

Any suggestions for curing the anemic performance?

Sorry for the lenght of this, guess I got a little excited in finding this forum!

Pat

[fhhuber506771]

One suggestion to cure the performance... slap the old gondola on the new blimp envelope. (the old one worked... all you needed was a new "balloon") Or find the difference in the power systems and make the upgrade.

Anemic performance means you have anemic motors. So either they need more voltage, or you need better motors or both. There's 4 things that you can replace to improve power output... Propellers, Battery(s), Speed controller, motors. The gondola package contains them all.

[BlimpGuy]

The old gondola came off a larger blimp and I doubt the new blimp would ever get it off the ground.....our season has only 4 home games left plus playoffs, so we'll wait 'til the season ends

pr

[galaxyrpv]

I have rebuilt several mobile airship blimps for people. I know exacltly what problems you are having, and I have a dropping mechinism that can drop over 14 items that will not bind up. You can email me at tonywhite@galaxyrpv.com if you want more details.