Going for a Ride in the DirectTV Blimp

This year has been a year of many highs and lows. Sure I broke my fibula, had to move and had little to no time for this very blog. But I also took amazing road trips to Carmel and Sonoma, attended both the Art Deco Festival and the TCM Film Festival and had an amazing birthday meal at the Carthay Circle Restaurant. Clearly, the good far outweighed the bad and to cap it off I got to do something I never thought I’d do. Ever.

I rode in a blimp! It’s been a few weeks and I still can’t believe I did it.

So how did this all come about? Well, the good folks at DirectTV and Van Wagner notified me that their blimp would be in the area for the first time ever. Normally, it winters in the Southeast but this year they decided to head to the West Coast for change. While here they covered local sporting events and even got to take a trip up north for the World Series.

Above is a picture taken over the St. John Bosco High School Football game. During the season the blimp made several trips like this to give the students a special experience. Trips were also made to local schools so students could learn about the blimp and apply what they learned to their math and science lessons.

I loved this idea and thought it would be interesting to see the blimp up close. Luckily, the folks at DirectTV were happy to obliged and advised me to drive out to a local airport so I could take a ride. A ride? Wait a minute? I thought I was just going to look at it up close? Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.

Look at the size of that thing! But I ignored my fears and after a brief safety lesson joined the pilot, Jeff, on board. We were the only two occupants and I was amazed at how small the cabin was. The blimp is a working airship and every spot has a purpose. There’s the pilot’s seat, the passenger seat, a seat for the camera man and a seat for the person who works the digital sign. I took a spot next to the pilot and away we went.

This led to another surprise. The cabin may hold just a few people but it takes much more than that to get a blimp aloft. There’s at least a dozen members of the ground crew pulling and pushing the ship to guide it for takeoff. You see there are no left or right controls and the pilot can only guide the aircraft forward and reverse. All other directions are guided by the ground crew. Ours did a wonderful job and before I knew it we were up, up and away.

A blimp travels at a height of 1000 feet and a speed of 35 miles per hour. This makes for a leisurely trip. Our ride was to be an hour so we flew about 30 miles out and then turned around and headed back to the airport. Although, our trip was mostly over subdivisions it was endlessly fascinating.

Because of the slow speed I could really observe the world below. I saw fancy houses and not so fancy houses. Golf courses and junkyards. Parks and whatever this is.

Seriously. What is this?

As much as I gaped at my surroundings I also had a fun conversation with the pilot, Jeff, who has worked with the DirectTV Blimp for a number of years and loves his job. He gave me some fun facts. Did you know there is no internal structure? It’s just helium inside. And guess how much helium? 170,000 cubic feet! Blimp pilots are all former airplane pilots who were trained to operate a blimp. Each blimp has a crew of about 20 folks who travel all over the country with it. Pretty interesting stuff.

And the number one thing I learned? Riding in a blimp is awesome! I can say that with a 100% confidence because I did it! I still can’t believe it. I wasn’t scared at all and had an amazing time. Thank you to the DirectTV Blimp crew for giving me such an incredible opportunity. I will never ever forget it.