LBPOST.com: What It's Like To See Long Beach From A Zeppelin

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What It's Like To See Long Beach From A Zeppelin

by Ryan ZumMallen | Long Beach News | 07.03.09 |

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It's a lot like a helicopter, but without the noise and the rattling. No, it's more like sitting in a bus - a quiet, comfortable bus - and realizing all of a sudden that the ground is no longer beneath you. You're rising almost effortlessly. There's no shaking and very little noise. And before you know it, you're 1,000 feet up into the air.

Airship Ventures is in town for the July 4th weekend, and brought along their commercial zeppelin Eureka, one of the world's three operating zeppelins. It's operating out of the Long Beach Airport until July 8, and offering rides to the public for $495 per hour. On Saturday, the airship will be as close as safely possible to the Queen Mary fireworks show - in fact, you'll be looking down on the fireworks. Click here for the Airship Ventures website.

Photos by Russell Conroy

Comments

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SandiLee
WOW! Thanks for all the aerial views of our beautiful city ... great to send this to all of our landbound family and friends!

Joana
These pictures really are great, I want to take a ride. Lucky reporter, Im sure this is one of the only perks of working for the Post

Nikol
Russ always does the best job. I wanna take a ride!

Alex J. Norman
Simply beautiful photography of a beautiful city. Thanks for the ride.

Dave Gooch
Awesome!

Hamburger
When can we take a ride,?? Great pictures. Thank you

Charlie
Well inspite of all its beauty, and our City is beautiful, the price is a bit stiff to fly the zep; The thing that was disappointing was all that fancy art work on the roof of the city convention center was not discernable, and the parking lot beside The Queen Mary was empty - which means it's losing money due to piss poor management of the Queen - that lot should be jammed day & night$$$

LB Fan
Our beautiful Aquatic City. LONG BEACH,THE AQUATIC CAPITAL OF AMERICA

Beth
saw the zepp gliding low over the Wild Oats community garden this afternoon and have to say that with that surreal message on the side, I felt like I was living a scene from Blade Runner.

ronnie
WOW! That looks exciting....WOW! I don't know if I am ready for that height. I do like flying though. Well, we shall see. We shall see...

KaRi
Love the stills! I have B-17 Bomber video on ThePrimeSpot.TV Check it out! Your photographs would make an excellent slide show....

Ann
Beautiful pictures of Long Beach--. You showed beautiful, restored Bolsa Chica Wetlands, but where are the pictures of our own Los Cerritos Wetlands?

BJD
I just finished eating at Chuck's in Belmont Shore on Friday and was taking a walk at the beach and looking up at the blimp and wondering, "What's it like to fly in that thing"? Now, I know (well at least without dropping the $500 bucks I know).

Dal Sherman
Spent a lot of time on that great beach in the 40's.

heidi kohler
what is the capacity ? Are you available for fundraisings ? Please respond. Heidi Kohler

G&G
Amazing photographs! Have you ridden in a helicopter, too? That must have been an awesome ride!

Cindy C
Nice picture of Bolsa Chica. I wish pics of our Los Cerritos Wetlands would have also been included. Our wetlands are nice too but people just don't realize it because you can't see it from the streets. Please include pics of our wetlands next time. Thx!

KF6TTR John 73
Thank You for the Great Pictures! That's really Cool! Hope to be able to Fly with you sometime! John KF6TTR 73

Charlie
A few years ago when I was a member of Leadership Long Beach, I took some pictures of that area as a part of my team's project and suggested the city should consider establishing a cruise ship terminal which now exists. More recently I took my fiancee on a Goodyear Blimp ride over the are and had an opportunity to oprate the controls. And even more recently I took my (fiancee)now wife on a helicopter ride for our wedding anniversary. It's a good ride and I still see a lot of potential for development. Maybe someday.

Midwest reader
Wow. Given the article and the responses in the comments section, this is definitely something that needs to go on the "bucket list" next to Albuquerque Air Fest in October.

AMCLB
I was able to get a ride on this zepplin and it was worth every penny. A very different experience than helicopter or small plane or hot air ballon. Love it & saving up for another ride (they will be back in Long Beach for Labor Day)

Long Beach News

LBPOST.com Managing Editor Ryan ZumMallen keeps up on all the current and breaking Long Beach news.

Ryan ZumMallen is a graduate of the CSULB School of Journalism, writing for the campus' Union Weekly newspaper and serving as Sports Editor for one year. He has written for numerous news and sports websites and magazines, as well as television experience with Fox Sports and ABC Channel 7.