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Zeppelin Eureka Part 2

By Bernard Zee, Contributing Editor & Photographer
Fremont, California

I'm still giddy over having had the opportunity to ride in, and photograph the only Zeppelin in the United States. The 'Eureka' is one of a new breed of lighter than air ships manufactured by the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, and operated by Airship Ventures. This is Part 2 of the adventure...Part 1 can be found in eFlyer #099.
Downtown Oakland. That crazy straight street? I believe that's Broadway.

Lake Merritt is pretty darn big.

A parting view of downtown Oakland. Or as a Southwest flight attendant said over the intercom - land of Oaks. I know, I'm just repeating what I heard!

The Oakland Coliseum parking lot is huge!

The airship pilot uses the joy stick for primary directional control, and the computer figures out the rest (like how much to swivel or tilt the engines, and a host of other calculations). There are a also other controls available which can be used to adjust for trim and buoyancy if needed.

Actually shot this with a very slow shutter speed. The props don't really seem to spin that fast in real life. Even though we were supposed to cruise at around 35mph, I think the pilot's GPS said we were going 45kt. Max speed, which is not ever used, is 70kt.

Eureka is the 3rd of its class of Zeppelin NT airships, and the only one in the United States. The other airships are in Germany, and Japan. The one in Japan flies for ads space only, and doesn't carry passengers.

Here's a shot showing the Zeppelin's shadow. With the sun being so far from earth, the light rays reaching us are for all intents and purposes parallel. Thus, the shadow cast by sunlight is the same size as the object (assuming the surface the shadow is cast on is normal, or perpendicular, to the light rays). You can see how big Eureka is by comparing the cars on the freeway below to the shadow! Of course, the Eureka is a fraction of the size of the giant interwar year Zeppelins and rigid airships. Those behemoths can easily carry over 100 people in comfort.

Throwing in an artsy shot of the airship controls.


I liked the way the 4 softball fields are arranged.

The old salt evaporation ponds (between the San Mateo Bridge, and the Dumbarton Bridge) creates interesting color patterns, due to the different salinity and resultant algal and brine shrimp concentrations.

Helium and air valves. Apparently, helium is never released during normal flight.
Air is moved back and forth to help trim the air ship though.

Here's a nice view of the air ship's cabin.

As we approach the end of the flight, we have to once again take our seats and buckle in. Out the window can be seen the main runway of Oakland International airport. No, we're not landing there...as mentioned before, the cabin is very quiet, and it's effortless to carry on a normal conversation. The ride was likewise very smooth.

Just so there's no mistake, 'OAKLAND' is painted in big letters on the tarmac.

On final approach, it's as soft as an escalator ride. Actually, even smoother! The key to Eureka, is that it is safe. Unlike blimps and older generation airships, the Eureka is fully maneuverable. Even in light to moderate winds, it can hover and land, and only needs one person on the ground to hang on to the rope. A far cry from the old days, when there were tons of people grabbing the ropes and hanging on for dear life!

The front of the airship has what looks to be a quick connect fitting, which attaches to a boom on a truck in Moffett field. That's how they park her at night. Sometimes, they will roll her into the hangar. But mostly, it's park outside hangar 2. Tethered only on the front, the airship is allowed to swivel around that attachment point by the blowing wind.

With all the passengers off, and a new load of passengers on,
Eureka prepares to take off again. And Off it goes!

Pretty cool to have it fly directly overhead! You can check their website for details, but I believe Airship Ventures charges $495 for an hour's flight. Chartered flights are also available.

I count my lucky stars to have had the opportunity to experience flying in an airship! If you've ever wondered what it's like to float above the hustle and bustle, you owe it to yourself to try this out!
Please visit Bernard Zee's Website for more aviation photo albums.
By Bernard Zee, Contributing Editor & Photographer

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