jumping out of a blimp?

[kingbunky 3]

has anyone ever done this? i'd think it would be pretty cool, the fun of a balloon with the manouverability of .... a slightly better mannered balloon? anwho, you'd think budweiser could be talked into sending one on over to the freefall convention.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[WFFC 1]

I believe (from the picture archive) the Family Channel balloon was at the WFFC before. I wasn't jumping during that time so I'm not sure what year or how much it was.
see www.freefall.com/images/gallery/img0008a.jpg

Michael
Webmaster

[email protected]
www.Freefall.com

-----
~~~Michael

[judedre 0]

i have previosly phoned the good year blimp and ofered them any amount of money to jump from it and they were very rude and refused no matter what youre usual whuffo respone blah blah blah

[pilotdave 0]

Quote

i have previosly phoned the good year blimp and ofered them any amount of money to jump from it and they were very rude and refused no matter what youre usual whuffo respone blah blah blah

I think their rides are by invite only, even if you're not jumping. There are plenty of other blimp operators out there though.

Dave

[tombuch 0]

Been there, done that. And yes, the Family Channel blimp was at the WFFC a few years ago.

I actually had a chance to jump from the Family Channel blimp before that when it was flying as the Virgin Airship in Florida. Jack Gregory joined me on that skydive and even shot some cool video and stills. Several years later I jumped from another blimp owned by the same company when it was on lease to the World Wrestling Federation.

Blimps are really cool!

It is difficult to get an blimp operator to allow you to make the jump, but with a bit of effort it can be done. One of the big problems you will have is altitude. Blimps are designed to fly at low altitudes (like 1,000 feet or less), and have trouble climbing to higher altitudes with a load. Generally, they leak helium over several weeks, and as I recall, the best time to jump a blimp is at the low point on the helium load. So, you need to wait for the gas level to get low, then make the jump. Even with the low helium load, the best we could do in terms of altitude was about 2,500. The first time I jumped a blimp it was tough timing the skydive to meet the helium load and weather.

The other problem is that the blimp needs to be well balanced for take off and landing. The only way to make a jump work from the pilot perspective is to take off heavy, lose the jumper, then land light. It is a bit of a chore for the flight crew.

At one point I had a tandem scheduled from the WWF blimp for a radio station in Pittsburgh. The jump would have required taking off super light, venting about 4,000 dollars worth of helium on the climb to 6,000 feet, then getting the pilot to land super heavy. We did the full flight plan, and it could have worked, but the radio station backed out because of the cost to vent all that gas. Oh well.

So, hey, keep trying and you may find a company willing to let you make a skydive from their blimp.

-Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[JnL 0]

I jumped the Family Blimp at the convention, it was cool. The ride was the best part.

[cpoxon 0]

I was supposed to be on a Zeppelin load recently but it didn't work out. Hopefully next time...

[Chizazz 0]

I'm working on the crew of one of the Snoopy Metlife blimps this summer. I'll ask the pilot if we can all jump out of it. I asked her today how high they can go and she said some to 10k and the one we have to 6k. w00t.