RC Zeppelin Jail Break Foiled!

Which blog should I post this bit of odd news? Easy - I'll post it on both of my blogs.

It seems that ever since the Charles Bronson movie "Breakout" came out in 1975, every now and then you will see someone attempt to use a helicopter to break out of prison. But a radio control Zeppelin? I saw that oddly Enough news article on Reuters.com and had to add my own thoughts to the subject. However, the photograph that went the article was of a regular, full 1:1 scale blimp. I was wanting to see this RC Zeppelin!

Why?

Because a few years ago on RCScalebuilder.com, there was this man who actually started talking with a blimp company about fashioning either a 1:6th or 1:5th scale Hindenburg that could be set up for radio control operations, or manned flight; just to attend a scale model airplane meet to be held in Texas several years ago! Those plans however never came about and I cannot find that thread anymore on that forum.

But, getting back to THIS specific story. Spanish police told news reporters that they had foiled the plot of a Italian drug trafficker's plan to use a RC Zeppelin to ferry in some climbing equipment for him to use to escape from jail on the Canary Islands. His name was given as Giulio B (age 52). He was jailed after being caught piloting a seaplane loaded down with 440 pounds (200 kg) of cocaine from Mauritania to the Canary Islands.

The police arrested three people outside the jail who were in the process of setting up the escape. They (the police) had intercepted the package sent from italy that had the balloon, night-vision goggles and climbing gear. Further searches on Grand Canary island found a tent and telephoto lens that the gang had used to check out the jail's security froma hill that was listed as being 600 meters away from the jail.

As envisioned, Giulio B. would have climbed out of the prison and meet a driver who would smuggle him off the island with forged papers. The police said that they have been investigating the plot since February of this year.

Just for the hell of it, I did a search for RC Zeppelins and RC Blimps and came up with many links. A lot of them are of the made-in-china- product display pages. These RC Blimps are used many as Inflatable Advertising. Check out some of the links below or better yet, do a goggle search using the words "RC Zeppelin."

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Ref. Reuters.com "Police foil radio control zeppelin jailbreak" posted July 3, 2009 (Madrid) by Martin Roberts (http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5623GN20090703).

(http://qyqimo.en.made-in-china.com/product/lbSmuQRjunpG/China-Airship.html)

(http://www.gotrade.com/manufacturers/Service.html)

(http://www.myairship.com/rcblimp/rc_parts.html)

Airship Ventures' Zeppelin Coming to California

There was an article published on line by AP news (My Way News) about a company called Airship Ventures that will soon be offering sightseeing tours of California based out of the old U.S. Naval airfield Moffett Field. As a bit of trivia, Moffett Field has one of the 13 remaining airship hangers in the country.

The Zeppelin was invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany in the late 19th century. The massive airships were use in war and peace until the airship era came to an end in Lakehurst, New Jersey. In 1937, LZ-129 Hindenburg burst into flames and crashed just short of the docking mast, and it was viewed by thousands. Newsreel footage of its destruction has been played ever since. Out of the 97 people onboard, 35 died in the accident.

Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik began building a new generation of zeppelins in 2001. Their Zeppelin NT (as in New Technology) is 246 feet in length. Which makes it about 15 feet longer than a Boeing 747 airliner. The ship was built in Germany, but shipped by containership to Beaumont, Texas, before a cross country flight to California. While the Zeppelin might look like a blimp, its not. It has a rigid internal frame covered by a outer canvas hull. It can carry 12 passengers and two crew members. Now while the Hindenburg had flammable hydrogen as its lifting gas, the Zeppelin NT uses the nonflammable helium. Since the Zeppelin NT has been operational in Germany, 80,000 people have now flown on the airship.

Typically, it takes about 18 months from start to finish to build one of the Zeppelin NT s. There is one in Germany and another zeppelin in Japan. Zeppelin NT #4 is the airship that Airship Ventures now flies. It had its maiden flight in May of 2008. Airship Ventures has ordered two additional zeppelins that would operate on the east coast of the United States providing the same type of tours on that side of the country. Those flight operations are being planned to begin around 2010. New York and Florida the likely spots.

Airship Ventures president Brian Hall, who started this company with his wife Alexandra, took his first airship ride in Cologne, Germany in 2006. Brian Hall made his money being a software entrepreneur. To reporters, he said the following, “It's a way to see the world that you haven't experienced it before. In a zeppelin, you're flying low and slow. You're going at a leisurely pace. You're seeing things that you wouldn't see from the road.”

While worries of the current economy is not far from Mr. Hall's mind, he still expects to sell about 15,000 tickets a year in the Bay Area tours. Aiming to attract people who want something special for birthdays or anniversaries.

This week starts flight operations for Airship Ventures by offering rides to view Napa and the Sonoma wine country, Big Sur coastline, and other San Francisco view spots. Costs per person is $495 for the hour long flight.

ref. ( www.airshipventures.com/ ) and Ap news article (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081026/D941T5583.html ).