Blimp makes rare stopover in Olive Branch

As the busiest general aviation airport in Mississippi, Olive Branch Airport is used to seeing a lot of takeoff and landings from private planes and corporate jets.

What's not so common, though, is to have one of those landings be a blimp.

Owned and operated by Skyship Services Inc. of Smyrna, Tenn., corporate pilot Terry Dillard brought the airship – one of ten kept at the company headquarters – down to a slow yet graceful landing at the Olive Branch airport this past weekend.

And slow is the defining word, as the blimp's top speed is only 42 mph. The ground crew, which accompanies the blimp on assignments, travel in four vehicles and will stay close-by which means their drive time is sometimes at a snail's pace.

“Yes, long range travel is something you just have to take in stride,” Dillard smiled, “We've stopped here in Olive Branch en-route to Nashville which, at even maximum speed, will take us five hours to get there. But we won't beat our crew to the next stop. They have to be with us just in case.”

The airship is a flying advertising billboard which clients can lease monthly or for as many months as they would like. The fabric signs are printed in one piece and attached to the 'skin' of the blimp with guy-wires that hold them in place, no matter the weather.

“The fabric is translucent so that after the sun goes down – and we're over a sports event for instance – the two flood lights mounted inside the blimp's envelope illuminate the advert.," Dillard said. "One of the most well known, leased by Met Life now for two decades, is the 'Snoopy blimp' which has been seen by more people than even the famous Goodyear blimps.”

Skyship Services Inc. has several airships and receives inquiries about leasing one for aerial advertising on a regular basis. According to Dillard, “It's a very effective marketing tool for companies, because of the blimps advantage that it flies low and slow – usually at 1,000 feet – giving the public ample time to see and read the signage. We're kept busy virtually all year, every year.”

Terry is a licensed commercial LTA pilot, meaning he can legally fly a blimp and a hot air balloon.

"And I have been doing so for 33 years," Dillard said. "I flew hot air balloons for 17 years before transitioning over to captain of blimps, with Skyship Services Inc. I learned everything necessary to hold responsibility for the aircraft, it being valued at over $1-million and of course, we don't want anything to damage it. Not even the weather.”

Dillard said the number one concern is in fact weather.

“A blimp is most affected by air pressure, wind direction, air temperature, all factors that have to be continually monitored," he said. "We have four screens in the cockpit that are tapped into four different weather reporting sources, including live radar scanners. High winds and driving rain storms, we try to avoid.”

Dillard said the blimp is 178 feet long and the envelope is a two-part system.

"The outer shape is filled with air, but there's an inner envelope that is filled with 170,000 cubic feet of helium, which is equal to 50 commercial-size bottles," Dillard said. "The helium remains constant in volume and regulated by the outer chamber air. It's a balancing act to maintain air worthiness, simple to fly, but as a pilot I have to be constantly aware of weather conditions more than anything else. And too, we usually don't fly much above 5,000 feet so that we're not in the way of any major air traffic, because even a small private plane can overtake us very quickly.”

Dillard said the company limits flights to within a 600 mile circle from Smyrna. That means they can only travel about 200 miles daily.

"Our average air speed is between 25 to 30 mph, which makes for a comfortable and controllable landing, slow enough that the ground crew can quickly move in and grab control lines," he said. "Take off usually happens, with a slight headwind, within 100 yards. A blimp readily takes to the air, and gains altitude rather quickly."

Flying the blimp is conducted within the gondola, which is held in place by cables and not directly attached to the envelope. The controls are relatively simple - a control 'stick', engine controls that manage the two Lycoming's mounted on the gondola, and a wheel, all necessary to maintain speed, altitude, and tack (direction). The gondola itself is made of light weight fabric coated in commercial dope so that it too is flexible. The ship is also equipped with a tricycle landing gear system, capable to moving in a 360-degree circle.

On the ground, the blimp is attached to a mooring mast that allows it to move circular so that it maintains a nose-to-the-wind posture, much like an airport windsock. And despite the blimps weight of only 5,000 pounds, it can be easily moved by hand.

The blimp was met Saturday morning by an 18-member ground crew who prepared the blimp to continue its journey to Nashville. Once everything was in order and all systems were ready, the crew hand-managed the airship into its flight position.

Once captain Dillard gave the ground crew chief the signal, lines were released, the engines accelerated up to flying rpm, and the handsome blimp took no more than 200 feet to gain the air. Then it passed the Olive Branch airport tower, turned northeast and slowly headed towards Nashville.

The ground crew's work not done, they gathered up equipment, hooked the mooring mast to the back of a pickup truck, loaded boxes in the van, and they too headed to the freeway to follow the blimp for the next five hours to its destination.

Captain Dillard said that after returning to home base, the blimp would be washed, cleaned, and new advertising attached.

“I can't tell you yet who has leased the blimp, but I can hint that the signage is going to be really cool," he said. "People are going to love it, and if we get a chance to come back to Olive Branch, you'll get to see it.”

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