Anyone here ever piloted an airship?

Just curious if anyone reading this group has ever piloted an airship.

Jim Logajan wrote:
Just curious if anyone reading this group has ever piloted an airship.

No but when I was 9 or 10 I got to stand right behind the pilots of the
Goddyear blimp while they were covering a Cowboys game.

Jim Logajan wrote:
Just curious if anyone reading this group has ever piloted an airship.


No, but I applied for a job with an airship company back when I was finishing up
my recovery from a plane crash. I figured if I crashed an airship, it would be
slower and not hurt as much.

For some reason I didn't get the job. I ended up flying cancelled checks all
over creation. Is this a great country or what?

FWIW, it was out of Elizabeth City, NC. They flew the smaller airships you'd
see at NFL games... not the big Goodyear blimps.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message news:a-
For some reason I didn't get the job. I ended up flying cancelled checks
all over creation. Is this a great country or what?

I friend of mine flew checks (Epps?). He said he always wondered why they
checked weather, because no matter what they said, they were flying.

Steve Foley wrote:
For some reason I didn't get the job. I ended up flying cancelled checks
all over creation. Is this a great country or what?

I friend of mine flew checks (Epps?). He said he always wondered why they
checked weather, because no matter what they said, they were flying.


There was an Epps Flying Service (I think it was called) down around Atlanta.
As for your comment about the weather, it was so we'd know how many changes of
underwear to bring. We were expected to fly.

As an aside, I can't count the number of times where every airliner missed the
approach while at the same time every freight dog got in. You learn a lot about
real world IFR flying from doing a stint as a courier for a year or two.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...

There was an Epps Flying Service (I think it was called) down around
Atlanta.

Bill flew out of Bradley (KBDL) in CT.


As an aside, I can't count the number of times where every airliner missed
the approach while at the same time every freight dog got in. You learn a
lot about real world IFR flying from doing a stint as a courier for a year
or two.

Keeping in mind that I can count all the approaches I've flown on one
finger.......

Is it becuase the airlines are trying to keep the pax comfortable, and don't
want to bounce all over the sky on an approach, or are freight dogs better?

"Steve Foley" wrote in message
...
"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...

There was an Epps Flying Service (I think it was called) down around
Atlanta.

Bill flew out of Bradley (KBDL) in CT.


As an aside, I can't count the number of times where every airliner
missed the approach while at the same time every freight dog got in. You
learn a lot about real world IFR flying from doing a stint as a courier
for a year or two.

Keeping in mind that I can count all the approaches I've flown on one
finger.......

Is it becuase the airlines are trying to keep the pax comfortable, and
don't want to bounce all over the sky on an approach, or are freight dogs
better?

The freight dogs may be better, but they often push the limits a bit farther
knowing that they won't be taking 100 people with 'em if they make a
mistake.

The freight pilots I talk with (particularly the guys who fly smaller
aircraft) have some incredible stories to tell. Yikes...

KB

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
.. .
Just curious if anyone reading this group has ever piloted an airship.

I've piloted airships for 1000's of hours, in all weather, all over the
world. I once landed the Norge at the base of Mt. Erebus in a white out
blizzard. Many are the hours I've plied a dirigible over the placid blue
waters of the Mediteranean, dolphins leaping beneath the bow. How well I
remember navigating through the Grand Canyon. Once I even flew the Goodyear
Blimp under the Golden Gate Bridge, and landed it on the USS Hornet while it
was at anchor in Alameda. Of course, it was all in Microsoft Flight
Simulator, but that's really the same thing (maybe even better) than doing
it in the 3-D real world. If you have any questions, let me know - someone
as experienced at airship operations as I am can pretty much answer any
questions you have. Glad to be able to help!


(and for the humor impaired - it's a joke, son - Ya supposed ta laff!)
--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants

Steve Foley wrote:
Is it becuase the airlines are trying to keep the pax comfortable, and don't
want to bounce all over the sky on an approach, or are freight dogs better?


The airliners fly the approach... they want in just as bad as anybody else. I
don't think the freight dogs were necessarily any better either. We just pushed
it a little harder. I never had another crewman sitting next to me to tell me I
popped a DH, not that I would ever do such a thing. But it would be an amazing
thing. I'd shoot an approach to minimums in Charlotte and land, then watch
airliner after airliner fly down the runway only to climb out into the slag
again, interspaced with freighter after freighter taxiing up to the FBO.

I heard a theory it was because we sat closer to the ground that it was just
enough difference for us to see the runway compared to somebody sitting in a big
airliner cockpit. But I suspect it was just that we pushed it.

The boss didn't want to hear excuses; he wanted to hear the airplane taxiing up.
So we did.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Lee K. Gleason" wrote:
I've piloted airships for 1000's of hours, in all weather, all over the
world. I once landed the Norge
....
(and for the humor impaired - it's a joke, son - Ya supposed ta laff!)

As soon as I read the name Norge I knew immediately you were joking (or
mighty damn old! So, what was Roald Amundsen really like? ;-))

Yes, I have read a bit on the history of airships and the Norge is justly
famous in the annals of that history.