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Airship Ventures’ Zeppelin NT, a 246-foot-long airship, is scheduled to arrive at Moffett Field on Saturday afternoon after a cross-country flight.
The airship is expected to fly over the Golden Gate Bridge between noon and 1 p.m. Saturday and arrive at Moffett Field between 2 and 3 p.m., depending on weather conditions.
NASA Ames officials said the airship will be based at Moffett and will give passengers aerial tours of the Bay Area. The cheapest available tours will be $495 per person.
The Zeppelin is 50 feet longer than the Goodyear Blimp. It can carry as many as 12 passengers.
The airship may also be used by NASA to assist disaster response agencies and for scientific and educational training.
Moffett Field, which celebrates its 75th anniversary on Nov. 21, was once home to Navy airships. The Macon and Akron, two massive, rigid airships, were operated by the Navy out of Moffett Field in the mid-1930s.
More about Airship Ventures and its Zeppelin can be found at the company’s Web site, www.airshipventures.com. To track the position of the Zeppelin in real time, click here.
The Akron made only one trip to Moffett, before Hangar 1 was completed. Only the USS Macon was operated at Moffett Field.
I saw the Zeppelin landing at Moffett around 11:45 this morning after it did a demo flight with some media folks aboard. They went up to 1400 ft altitude and circled the MV area. It was a little surprising seeing a 250 ft long airship gliding in over Hwy 101. $500 per person for a one hour flight starting this Friday. Apparently they also plan to fly out of Oakland and Sonoma airports.
KTVU has some video by one of their reporters here: http://www.ktvu.com/news/17803301/detail.html
Today, 2/18/2009, A saw an airship with writing on the side that said, “Come Fly With Me” and included a phone # but I couldn’t read the number. It started with the (650) area code. I’d really like to take a ride in a dirigible and thought this might be the opportunity. Does anyone have any idea how to reach them? I’ve tried the phone book, 411, “flywithme”.com and have looked up dirigibles on the internet. I can’t find any information.
http://www.airshipventures.com/?gclid=COzTtvj16JgCFR0SagodkS6L1g
Patty, I took a ride and it was fantastic! Check out the above website.