Where the blimp is right now

It's deflated, in a box in Elizabeth City, NC, according to a crew member.

Pictures possibly to follow.

Blimpedy blimp

Globe article about why we're under blimpless skies.

Also, I've heard it through the grapevine that Leigh Bradbury reads this site. Hi Leigh! You're awesome!

Our correspondent, Jeff, from New Jersey sends in this report

Blimp Blimp Blimp o'er Joisey

Sorry, no pics, I was stricken with paralysis by the blimpieness of it.

About an hour or so ago, I sighted the Hood Blimp over my house in Moorestown NJ, apparently on its way to buzz Philly. Although I love blimps, I’d never heard of the Hood Blimp, and googled it. Love your blog! Since Im on a blimp flightpath and usually hear their distinctive whhrrrr before I see them (if the windows are open), I shall try to get a pic next time.

Jeff

Photographer couple shoots Hood Blimp on Cape Cod

Possibly the coolest Hood Blimp shot ever. Definitely the coolest non-flight shot.

Sara drinks wine, photographs blimp, blogs about it

Ooh, and she even linked here. As any quality Hood Blimp post should, really.

Hood Blimp season shortened due to fuel costs

Great story, aside from the little blip of second-referencing "Bradbury" without mentioning his whole name first. It's Leigh Bradbury, and he's the dude who was piloting when the blimp crashed in Manchester-by-the-Blimp.

Click here for bigass blimp picture.

Video of a ride in the Hood Blimp

From Salem News. Definitely worth watching, even for those who aren't obsessed with the blimp.

Someone's blog post about the Falmouth Road Race mentions the Hood Blimp, so I'm linking to it

Blimpy goodness over this way.

Some people with radio scanners are trying to stalk the blimp

Will they succeed? Find out here.

MIT likes the blimp

Also has other non-blimp photos of Boston/Cambridge that are really gorgeous.

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First sighting of the year!

I saw it over South Boston and the South End this morning. I tried to follow it to get a closer shot, but I lost it. Here's what I did manage to get:



Possibly the crappiest video ever, but I swear, that white amorphous blob over there is the Hood Blimp.

The Blimp Returns

The Hood Blimp Is Back The Hood Blimp Is Back Beloved New England icon returns to New England for 2008 Season New England’s most recognizable and beloved floating icon is back in the sky for the 2008 season. The Hood Blimp will be flying across New England from June 20 through August 20 this year, visiting beaches, events, festivals, Red Sox games and more throughout the region. About the Hood Blimp The American A-60 Plus Lightship is a revolutionary airship designed specifically for aerial observation purposes. The stability, airborne duration and maneuverability of the Lightship offer an excellence observation platform. Manufactured with the latest materials and techniques, the most striking feature of the Lightship is that the entire hull can be internally illuminated providing a dramatic nighttime sight. Type: American A-60+ Lightship Volume: 68,000 cubic feet of Helium Empty Weight: 2,770 pounds Dimensions: Hull Length: 128 feet Height: 44 feet Width: 36 feet Gondola Length: 13 feet (cabin 9 feet) Height: 5 feet Width: 9.5 feet (cabin 6.3 feet) Passengers: 3, plus pilot (maximum capacity 5) Envelope: Composed of an outer structural skin with separate inner disposable gas-tight bladder (similar to a tire and inner tube). Illumination: Features a special internal illumination system comprising of two 1,000-watt light bulbs that cause the airship envelope to glow during nighttime operations. Engines: Power: Twin 80-horsepower Limbach engines Fuel Capacity: 74 gallons Fuel Consumption: 4 gallons per hour (cruise) Performance: Cruising Speed: 32 miles per hour Maximum Speed: 53 miles per hour Maximum Rate of Climb: 1,600 feet per minute Maximum Rate of Descent: 1,400 feet per minute Range: 425 miles Airborn Duration: 15 hours (on station) Turning Circle: 750 feet diameter Lifting Gas: 68,000 cubic feet of helium Operating Personnel: Minimum Flight Crew: 1 Total Crew: 12 (including crew chief, port noseline, starboard noseline and gondola crew) Television Broadcast Capacity: Mounting to accommodate gyro-stabilized camera for television and video photography.

For all press-related inquiries, contact: Lynne Bohan HP Hood LLC (617) 887-8321 or Sarah Barow HP Hood LLC (617) 887-8455

Blimp?

That's not the right blimp!

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October blimp schedule

1: Transit to Maine
2: Fryeburg Fair
3: Transit to Boston
4: Rest and maintenance
5: Rest and maintenance
6: Topsfield Fair
7: Topsfield Fair
8: Tufts Health Plan 10K, Boston Common
9: Rest and maintenance
10: Rest and maintenance
11: Transit to New Hampshire
12: Exposure
13: UNH vs. Iowa Homecoming Football Game
14: Boston Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk
15: Rest and maintenance
16: Rest and maintenance
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22: Rest and maintenance
23: Rest and maintenance
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29: Rest and maintenance
30: Rest and maintenance
(Someone needs to tell The Lightship Group that October has 31 days)

Hmm. The dates of the American League Championship Series and the World Series are mysteriously left blank. It's a sign, I tell you!

Where you can expect to see the blimp during September

1: Hampton Beach
2: Gloucester Schooner Festival
3: Sox vs. Toronto 7:05
4: Sox vs. Toronto 7:05
5: Transit to NYC
6: Rest and maintenance
7: Rest and maintenance
8: Mets vs. Houston 1:10
9: Mets vs. Houston 1:10
10: Mets vs. Houston 7:10
11: Transit to Boston
12: Rest and maintenance
13: Rest and maintenance
14: Sox vs. Yankees 7:05
15: Sox vs. Yankees 7:05
16: Sox vs. Yankees 2:05
17: Transit to Connecticut
18: Exposure
19: Transit to Boston
20: Rest and maintenance
21: Rest and maintenance
22: BC vs. Army football, Harvard vs. Brown football
23: Big E in Springfield
24: Big E in Springfield
25: Transit to Boston
26: Rest and maintenance
27: Rest and maintenance
28: Sox vs. Minnesota 7:05
29: Sox vs. Minnesota 7:05
30: Sox vs. Minnesota 2:05

Ode on a blimp

Poem and video by Molly.

Bad blimp. No blimp cookie.

Residents who were just finishing dinner reported that the blimp could be seen just above the tree line in Somerville, Medford and Saugus, and police dispatchers were swamped with emergency calls from frightened residents worried about how low the craft was flying. Some weren't even sure what it was.

"Hello, FAA? There's some big white poofy thing that says HOOD flying around near my house."

Also, this discussion thread about the news headline is pretty funny. They mentioned to include an "Oh, the humanity!" but no one posted the corresponding image. Oh well.

The blimp gets jiggy on the Smoot bridge

This was taken on July 31, 2007, through the windshield of a vehicle while traveling east on Mass Ave between Cambridge and Boston.

BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP

BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP
Originally uploaded by eeka

BLIMP

BLIMP
Originally uploaded by eeka

Over Fenway on July 12. This was taken from pretty much directly under it. I really need to get a camera with a zoom.

The blimp in action

The blimp makes its first Sox appearance of the year

BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP
Originally uploaded by eeka

Blimp season off to a good start

The blimp will be in Newport on Saturday for the Tall Ships Festival.

The first Sox game will be July 2, and the blimp will also be at the festivities on July 4.

BLIMP! BLIMP! BLIMP! BLIMP! BLIMP!

Globe article about the blimp being back in Boston

Salem News article about same

Aaaand, my shitty cameraphone picture in which you can't really tell the blimp is a blimp, but I promise you it was there.

Also, in addition to all the blimp sighters who googled to find out why the Hood blimp was in their town and found me, I also got an e-mail from a major organization wanting to know if I know how to contact the blimp owners to hire it for an event.

Blimp seen in Rochester NY

Mike Gamin sent this photo:

Letters, we get letters...

hbo e-mailed me on June 15 to report...

hey, i'm sitting on a cliff overlooking SUNY Albany watching the Hood blimp float past... What's the deal... strong wind off the new england coast? -hbo

Chris Shields sent me photos of the blimp this morning over Syracuse NY:









No, I don't know why either.

Now you can have your blimp and eat it too

Hood blimp bento
Originally uploaded by eeka

I'm having a blimp for lunch today!

Tutorial: How to Get Your Marketing Message on a Blimp

Look up in the sky. It's a blimp with your marketing message on it! If this is something you've always dreamed of doing for a campaign, then check out our latest tutorial. Although it's an extravagance, blimp advertising can show more ROI than what you might think.

We have all the bases covered -- costs, planning steps and how to incorporate blimp advertising into your overall marketing message. Plus, blimp blogging. Yes, blimp blogging.

Cool article, except that they're using the term "blimp blogging" in a blasphemous way. Blimp blogging of course refers to blogs about blimps, not some advertising crap. Bastards.

Someone in a CAD class made a Hood Blimp

If you want to download it into a 3D modeling program, or see how they did it, or if you'd just rather hear about it from someone who knows what the ass they're talking about, go to the site where I found it.

Blimp sightings not limited to blimp season

Today at work we were looking through Pathways to Recovery: A Strengths Recovery Self-Help Workbook during a meeting. I was caught off guard a bit when this appeared:



Just to dispel any false assumptions one might be inclined to make, "being caught off guard" was of course expressed by lightly tapping my finger to my chest and stating "oh, goodness!" It did not in any way involve shreiking, flapping, petting the blimp or running to the scanner, in case anyone had wondered.

Slow blimp season

But at least this lameass Herald article about Hood's new marketing strategy or whatever makes a brief mention of our friend the blimp.

It's apparently been fixed

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Hood blimp floats lazily above the Providence skyline, loosely following the late-day traffic streaming south on Interstate 95 about 1,000 feet below.

Archived version on redsoxblimp.com

More blimp crash articles, archived forever with .pdf-fy goodness

bostonglobe20060926.pdf

cbs20060926.pdf

Hood blimp crashes north of Boston

BOSTON -- The Hood blimp has crashed into a wooded area of Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Police said that the accident happened at about 12:30 p.m. at 1 Brookwood Road.

I think this thing is stalking my friends

Christine from amusings.net came across the thing too. She was even kind enough to slam on the brakes and pose with it for me!

UNDE?

My brother sent me this picture of the Goodyear, taken from inside Fenway Park:

The real cause of the Hindenburg disaster

New research shows that the Hindenburg disaster was actually caused by snakes on a planeblimp.

Goodyear Blimp in Boston last week

At one point on Sunday, I was driving through the Longwood area and could see the Goodyear and Hood blimps in close enough proximity to have gotten them in one frame. Sadly, I had no camera on me. Did anyone shoot this?

The Herald blurb about Goodyear's visit is here.

Blimp!

Blimp!

I followed it around the Symphony Hall area this evening and took pictures while driving. Whee!

Hood ornament!

Once again, it's seeming that Tim at Boston Crazy Driving provides more of my site content than I do:

You can get yourself clean, you can see a big blimp...

The blimp did a circle around City Hall Plaza last night during the Village People concert (presumably on its way home from the Sox game).

Blimp photos from Adam

Adam Gaffin seems to have joined in on the obsession movement and has sent this photo, taken downtown on July 13. There are a couple more from him on my Flickr page.

Blimp caption contest!

You, my dear readers, are all invited to submit your ideas for captions for this photo.

If you're not seeing why it's funny, it's probably because you're a better person than I.

Taken, as usual, by blimp correspondent extraordinaire Timlav.

Suckyblimp!

Not to be outdone, Adam Gaffin sends me this blimp photo:


"This is what happens when you get to Newton for their fireworks, you hear the blimp, you turn around, you quickly struggle to get your camera out of the bag and by the time you finally find it under all the towels and stuff you can tell it's peered down, gotten disappointed by the dinky crowd and started to head back to Boston and so you quickly uncap your lens, fire up the camera and twist around and fire off one shot before it disappears."

Where the blimp lives

My blimp photos may suck, but Timlav has once again been kind enough to snap me a couple photos of the blimp. Here it is at Beverly Airport this morning:

Bliiiimps in the niiiiiiight

Yeah, so, my camera sucks. It looked so big and clear and poofy and blimpy from up on my roof, I swear! But hey, blimps is blimps.

Opening Day!

BLIMP! BLIMP BLIMP BLIMP! BLIMP!

Blimp season has finally arrived! Here's the blimp circling the Hancock Building area, taken from my roof. OK, so I don't have a good zoom on my camera, but I assure you the white dot in the sky is indeed the Hood blimp!

Is there really so little blimp action in this damn town that I'm having to resort to reposting stuff from The Onion?

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49170

It's the wrong damn blimp, but it's a blimp nonetheless

Timlav over at Boston Crazy Driving has been so kind as to send me photos he took of the Sanyo blimp moored at the Beverly Airport the other day:

Still no (correct) blimp

The Sanyo blimp was once again over Boston last night. I appreciate blimps and all, but dammit, I want the RIGHT blimp to show up already!

The wrong blimp is better than no blimp

The Sanyo blimp (i.e., the wrong blimp) was flying around the greater downtown area again yesterday afternoon.

Sanyo Blimp

Some highly scientific googling tells me that the Sanyo blimp was here yesterday giving rides to children with illnesses as part of the Believe in Tomorrow Foundation.



Apparently, most of what Sanyo does with their blimp is related to charitable causes. That's really cool.

BLIMP! BLIMP! BLI--wait, that's not the right blimp...

What was this doing flying around the Back Bay area yesterday afternoon?

Sweet Caroline followup

So now after having posted about Sweet Caroline, a couple people have engaged me in discussions of, "why?"

This NPR story explains -- sort of -- why that song gets sung at Sox games. The best part of the story is the NPR reporter, Sox music director, and Sox players singing the song throughout the clip.

This, uh, interview with Adam Gaffin seems to really offer the best explanation:

him: You know the story behind it?
me: i've looked it up
me: still don't GET IT
him: Classic Boston thing: Anything that gets done repeatedly for a couple of months becomes a tradition.
me: hmm... [link to NPR article]
me: sweeeet caroliiiine...
him: BUM BUM BUM!
me: wait, the reason is that the former music director just played it just cuz?
him: yep
him: In other words: There's no FUCKING REASON.
him: Except she kept doing it.
him: Hence: tradition.

Good times never seemed so good...

Molly reports:

I just went to return a call [that was made to her place of work] and the person apparently works for the Red Sox. I guess this shouldn't have been a surprise, but their hold music is...

SWEET CAROLINE!

*dies*

As much as I hate the song, it's really the only song that could in any way possibly be construed as being the official song of the blimp, if the blimp were to for some reason have an official song. Therefore it is good.

(Still no blimp.)

Last call to Name The Blimp

The last day for entries is Saturday the 30th, so get those entries in.

Before submitting, it might be helpful to read the official judging criteria:

All eligible entries received will be judged by a panel of judges ("Judges") based on the following criteria (collectively "Criteria"): a) name reflects the storied 80-year history and tradition of the Goodyear Airship (40%); b) name reflects the grace and majesty of air flight (20%); c) name resonates with the Goodyear airships’ long history of public service (20%); and d) name acknowledges Goodyear’s history of innovations and progress (20%).

Yeah, so this pretty much guarantees any of the names I found amusing would stand a chance.

Even so, given that the prize is the use of a FREAKIN BLIMP for a day, I decided I'd be a sheep and think of a name that reflected the tradition of the Goodyear company and all that.

I tried "Vulcan."

Sorry, that Blimp name was already submitted. Please try another name.

Yeah, figures.

So I tried "Vulcan Eyes."

Sorry, that Blimp name was already submitted. Please try another name.

DAMMIT!

Being too lame to think of any names that had anything to do with Goodyear's history of serving the community (and since I don't really know that much about how exactly they've done this, other than having blimps and pioneering vulcanized rubber...) I decided to go for the path of least resistance.

I named it "eeka."

Watch out for that lamp!

hood blimp
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod.

What's the Hood Blimp doing in East Berlin?

Hood
Originally uploaded by Night Owl City.

I've found my next mortgage broker

Classic nighttime shot over Fenway Park

Lansdowne Street All Lit Up
Originally uploaded by AntyDiluvian.

Hood Blimp recognized as form of local transportation

An official MIT website gives directions to the campus by subway, bus, taxi, car, and Hood Blimp:

by Hood blimp: Take the blimp to the tall building with all the glass windows (that would be the Hancock tower). Head north over the Charles River and have them put you down on top of the large, convex, concrete structure on the north shore of the river (that would be the Great Dome of MIT). Watch out for police cars on the roof.

Another shot over Concord

hood over concord
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod.

Hood Blimp over Concord New Hampshire

main street
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod.

There sure are a lot of great photos of the blimp on Flickr...

One Way Blimp
Originally uploaded by Bluepeony.

Oh well, my URL is cooler than theirs anyway

During the course of my never-ending quest to know as much as possible about the Hood Blimp, I discovered that www.hoodblimp.com redirects to www.hood.com (the official Hood dairy website).

This makes sense, except that the Hood website makes no mention of the blimp aside from a randomly placed image of the thing.

OK, so I suppose Hood owns the rights to "Hood Blimp" and related references and all, but a URL with "blimp" in it really should pull up a website that involves, well, blimps.

Like this one.

(Still no blimp.)

One smoot short of a blimp?

So, while randomly googling, I found a messageboard thread in which people discuss facts about the Hood Blimp. Unfortunately, the post seems to only be available in cached format.

The best part of the thread by far, preserved here for your reading pleasure, is this:

roxie: You missed a blimp fact .... just how many smoots long is the Hood blimp?

swstone: Roxie,Given that a smoot is 5' 7", and the A-60+ blimp is 39 meters, (hmmm... multiply 39.37, divide by 12, etc., etc.) I would say 22.9 smoots and one ear.

Still no actual Hood blimp to be seen hovering over, so my 2 or so readers and I will have to content ourselves with blimplore from the internet.

Under blimpless skies

No blimp. Dammit.

Name that Blimp

Name the blimp, get to use it for a day. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced plans Monday for a contest to name its newest blimp. The tire maker based in nearby Akron set up a Web site for entries from noon Tuesday through April 30, www.nametheblimp.com. It will announce 10 finalists in May.

Hmm, this is going to take some thought...

Regarding the more important blimp, ONE MORE DAY TIL BLIMP!

Uh, I hope.

HOOD BLIMP EMERGENCY

I've just heard some assertions that the blimp does not, in fact, start appearing on opening day. Some of my sources seem to remember that it doesn't appear until later in the summer. Others distinctly remember it being present on opening day.

If the former is indeed true, this might be a really boring web page for the next several months. Fear not; I am committed to providing a daily dose of blimpy goodness, even if this means getting really repetitive and ridiculous along the way.

Countdown: TWO DAYS UNTIL BLIMP, HOPEFULLY

BLIMP!

“If I see it’s playtime at a school and I’m flying over a school, I always do an extra circle around and wave to them,” blimp pilot Katharine Board says in this story that ran on WGBH last fall.

Hmm, how can I get her to change her policy to also circle and wave when she flies over my office on Canal Street on the way to Fenway?

Also, OMG OMG OMG THREE DAYS UNTIL BLIMP!

Do I even need to title my posts? It's about the blimp, of course

From last fall: an article about Katharine Board, the Hood Blimp pilot. She's the world's youngest blimp pilot and only active female pilot. Did I mention she flies the blimp? As in, the one and only Hood Blimp. She's the pilot. Dayumm.

FOUR DAYS TO GO! wOOt!

Five days and counting

There are five days left until the beginning of blimp season the Red Sox home opener. In eager anticipation of this monumental day, I thought I would devote a new blog entirely to my obsession with blimps -- in particular the Hood Blimp. Check back over the next five days for various blimp-related articles and photos.

The 2006-2007 Red Sox schedule is available here. Dates in red denote blimp presence home games.

If any of my readers wants to donate a camera with a decent zoom lens to my cause, I'd be most grateful. Regardless, there will be blimp photos here once the season starts. Whether the blimp will be identifiable on the days I can't get all the way down to the park during game time is still up in the air. (Get it?)