Ready for Some Football?

Football season is back in full swing, and we'll be providing aerial coverage for both NFL and college games all over the country. I did my first NFL game of the season in Charlotte this weekend as we watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Carolina Panthers. Check out my pictures and video of downtown Charlotte as we flew over the game.

I'm excited to do this weekend's football game as we are in the Boston area to cover the Bills vs Patriots game in Foxboro. Hopefully the Bills can pull out a win as I cheer from 3000 feet above the stadium!

3 Blimps Cross Paths

On our way down to North Carolina last week for the college football game at Duke and the NFL game in Charlotte, we stopped at Soleburg Airport in New Jersey for the overnight. On our way out to the ship in the morning, we found out that in addition to the Metlife Snoopy 1 blimp being there, the Goodyear Blimp, "Spirit of Innovation" had arrived the previous night. The DirecTV Blimp and the Goodyear Blimp are both much larger airships then Snoopy 1. With comparable size, they both also have large electronic signs on their port sides. The main difference between the two being that our sign is larger and can show full motion, full color, TV quality video both during the day and at night. Its not often you get three airships in one place, let alone three. Soleburg is such a great, airship friendly airport. Most airports barely have enough room for one blimp, but here there is enough room for all of us to moor and operate safely with room to spare.

Quick Highlights of US Open

Here is a short video highlight of the US Open Tennis in Flushing, NY. It finished up only a little over a week ago but it already seems like forever ago. Most of the video is from the opening ceremonies and the pre-match festivities for the women's final. The opening of the American Flag over the court was by far one of the cooler things I've seen from a blimp.

Tennis Anyone?

Well we had a busy, crazy couple of weeks covering the US Open Tennis in Flushing, NY. Despite challenges with the weather, Hurricane Earl threatening the East Coast and the normal challenges that go into being apart of a live television broadcast, it went pretty well. I'll have video posted of the tennis and more of New York City soon once I get it all edited. These are a couple of pictures from the pre-match festivities.

We're currently catching our breath down in North Carolina covering some college and NFL football this weekend and then its back up north!

How the Other Half Live

On our trip down from Boston to New York, we decided to take the scenic route along the Rhodes Island shoreline and across the Long Island Sound to the southern coastline of the Hamptons on the eastern side of the island. These areas have some very expensive houses and extraordinary scenery. We picked a picture perfect day to do it as well. Check out the video above for a little relaxing journey along the coast.

3 Year Anniversary

Well today marks 3 years of blimping for me. Its pretty insignificant when compared to the 20 plus years some of my contemporaries have been doing it for, but its a milestone for me. I met up with my first operation not too far from here in Soleburg, NJ when I met up with Snoopy 2 for the first time. Since then, I've logged over 1600 hours in 5 different airships, three different types and traveled I don't know how many thousands of miles across the country and back. Its been quite a trip so far and its not quite over yet. I spent the day flying 10 hours over New York City and the US Open Tennis. I'll have lots of video and pictures to come soon. The above picture is of two blimps I'm very familiar with, Snoopy 1 and my current ride, DirecTV, taken in Miami during Super Bowl week this year.

Connecticut Castle

Flying the blimp, we often come across some unusual sites that catch our attention. On our way down to New York to begin the US Open Tennis, we flew over a castle being built in the middle of nowhere Connecticut. Its straight out of a fairytale with a moat and everything! I can only imagine how much something like this takes to build, but its going to look amazing when its completed I'm sure.
After a little research on the internet, I found out it has been under construction for the past 8 years or so. Its located in Woodstock, Conn and is owned by a man by the name of Christopher Mark. To see more pictures of it from the ground, check out his myspace page here.