Hi Blimp folks,

Somewhere in this forum I imagine I could find info and advice regarding the appropriate blimp to be flown by children with disabilities. But, instead of searching and searching, I figure one or some of you can give me a reference to good posts about the subject, or just tell me what you think.

The circumstances are:

1. My RC sailplane club flies on the grounds of a former dairy farm now owned and operated by an organization that provides a summer camp experience for children whose physical limitations prevent them from attending other camps.

2. The camp facilities include an exceptionally large dairy barn (huge volume of open space) that is used for various sports and camp activities, especially during bad weather.

3. In a recent chat with one of the camp staffers, we agreed that one or two or three very cool looking, durable, slow moving blimps with easy to operate transmitters might be great aircraft to fly in the barn; piloted by the campers with co-pilot supervision by the camp staff. (Visualize a blimp race in the barn in lieu of a rained out paddle boat ride.)

4. No commitment has been made to provide such blimps to the camp, so I am not yet on the hook to deliver. But, if I knew what to ask for, and the approximate cost, I’d try to find a donor, write a grant, or otherwise find the funding to acquire the blimps.

5. It would probably be helpful to learn about other organizations that are already using a blimp for children’s’ entertainment, motor skill development, and confidence building.

So, what can any of you share with me about the right stuff?

Your use for blimps is the first time I've ever heard of such a proposed usage. Blimps ususally fall into three categories; hobby, sports arena advertising and photography platforms.

Hobby blimps are ususally too fragile to handle operations by anyone but the operator. Blimps developed for commertial applications may be out of your financial reach.

And the big limiter right now is the availbility of helium.

Sorry to sound pesimistic but durrable ones are expensive to set up.

Tom,

Look for a pm from me too

Riser, just had an inexpensive thought. Take a couple of Night Vapors, remove the wings add one or two large mylar balloons for lift. Tape them together for stabilty. Set the radio's to low rate and try flying those as indoor blimps.

Hmmmm. Interesting idea. It might work out.

Last weekend a few of us were flying Night Vapors in the barn with some of the children. The older ones got the hang of it with only a few crashes. The younger ones were enthusiastic, but not quite able to enjoy flying without their adult co-pilots literally holding their fingers on the sticks.

In the end, the Night Vapors seemed to be "OK" but subject to damages depending on how hard they hit. (Which is what reminded me of using blimps for the little kids.)

I'll get with the Night Vapor pilots in the club (I'm not one of them) and see what they think of your idea. Thanks for keeping this in mind.