I like to hitch rides in airplanes. The
Detroit’s old Fort Wayne seen from Sanyo blimp. Joel Thurtell photo.
smallest plane I ever rode in was an Aeronca, sort of like a Piper Cub. The fastest plane I ever went up in was a Navy F/A-18, and what a ride that was. I’ve ridden in DC-3s, back when they still made passenger runs in the Midwest. I got a hop in a World War II AT-6 like the kind of plane my dad trained in. And I’ve ridden in many commercial passenger airlines, both propellor-driven and jet. But the oddest flight was the one I took in a lighter-than-air craft, the Sanyo blimp. Here, with permission from the Detroit Free Press, is the June 2004 story I wrote about my ride in a blimp.
Sanyo blimp tethered at Grosse Ile Airport. Joel Thurtell photo
By JOEL THURTELL
Free Press Staff Writer
Just stepping onto a blimp is exciting.
This big bag of gas won’t stay still. A dozen men held the Sanyo blimp by ropes Saturday, letting it swing like a weather vane above Grosse Ile’s airfield.
It bobbed up and down as passengers, one at a time, aimed a foot at the little boarding step to make their entrance, hopping.
Surprise again – your weight presses this 150,000-cubic-foot bag of helium down and away.
Like stepping onto a boat.
Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge seen from Sanyo blimp. Joel Thurtell photo.
Like a boat, a blimp depends on buoyancy – the helium in that gas bag is lighter than air, and forces the 165-foot vessel skyward, said blimp pilot Steve Tomlin.
The white blimp with its scarlet Sanyo logo is based at the Grosse Ile Municipal Airport for a meeting of company executives today.
There’s no danger of explosion, because helium is an inert element and won’t burn.
But the idea of riding in this big gas bag made some people nervous.
“I don’t mind flying — except take-offs and landings,” said Lori Sullivan of Dexter. Her son, 12-year-old Austin, and husband Kevin went for the ride. But Lori Sullivan stayed on the ground with daughter Madeleine, 6.
“It looks like a school bus.” Blimp gondola, or car. Joel Thurtell photo.
“It looks like a school bus with a balloon on top!” said Madeleine.
Inside that “school bus,” passengers buckled seat belts. Outside, a dozen men clung to thick ropes dangling from the blimp’s bow. They guided the nose into the wind. Pilot Carl Harbuck revved the twin Lycoming 180-horsepower engines and spun a big black vertical wheel that points the bow up or down,
The blimp’s big white bow rose, pointing sharply upward.
In a 20-knot wind, the blimp was making 45 mph as it flew north over the Detroit River. A thousand feet below, a long orange freighter plowed along.
Tiger Stadium, later demolished, seen from blimp. Joel Thurtell photo.
In gusts, the blimp pitched and rolled.
One passenger complained of a queasy stomach.
Grinning, Austin Sullivan shot photos out the big window.
“It’s great!” he said.
The car, or gondola, can hold nine passengers, but the pilots limited its capacity to six Saturday because of gusts.
The trips came close to being cancelled when Tomlin earlier Saturday found the blimp was making no headway in 45-knot winds.
“I was absolutely stationary – I was getting concerned,” Tomlin said.
Detroit River and Detroit skyline seen from Sanyo blimp. Joel Thurtell photo.
When it’s not being flown, the blimp is moored to a 30-foot steel mast. One of the 14-member crew keeps watch at all times. Parker was on duty Thursday when it was raining on and off. He was constantly tossing 25-pound cloth bags full of buckshot on or off the blimp to adjust its height.
Approaching the Ambassador Bridge, Harbuck pointed the bow down for a sweeping view out the windshield of the big blue span and the tall buildings of Detroit.
The blimp made a sweeping turn, past the old Tiger Stadium, the empty Michigan Central Railroad terminal, and then we were heading south over Zug Island and the blast furnaces of a steel mill.
My ticket for a blimp ride. Joel Thurtell photo.
No other aircraft can give such a slow-moving, close view of the earth. At 45 mph, it’s moving slower than the slowest airplane. There’s plenty of time to look and look again.
A big silver four-engined airplane with a tall tail loomed into view.
It was the Yankee Air Force’s restored World War II-era B-17, flying a mile or so away.
The big bomber passed the blimp like it was nailed to a cloud.
Slow and ponderous it may be, but for sheer elegance, the blimp beats an airplane.
Sanyo blimp at Grosse Ile Airport. Joel Thurtell photo.
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
