The Blimp Should Fly...

[Brad Zink]

Somehow I doubt the FAA and all the other governmental agencies would be cool with a blimp flying over times square, football stadiums, etc. They'll make up some excuse about terrorism and stop it.

The blimp should be able to go over a football stadium. The Goodyear blimp has been doing this for decades, and how could the Ron Paul Blimp be tied to terrorism?

 

[Maverick]

...and how could the Ron Paul Blimp be tied to terrorism?

Dude, do we have to go over this again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgxlaBuARO8&feature=user

 

[dante]

There's a flaw in many people's reasoning. Luckily, there's a perfect gauge at our disposal for figuring the best path...

If the size of population centers is what is important, all candidates would be blitzing the Boston, NYC and Washington DC metro areas with campaign ads right now. But all candidates are not doing this because they know campaigns are won and lost in the earliest states. That's whey everyone keys primarily on Iowa and NH.

Luckily, there's a line of key metro areas all the way from Elizabeth City, TN to Iowa. As evidenced by this map...

This route would take a week to get to Iowa and would fly over the busiest interstate traffic in the country. (I'll gladly provide references if anyone requests)

This decision is huge and we don't want to botch it. Let's get our thinking caps on.

JN

WOW I love it.... getting the blimp to IA would be amazing!

 

[RickNHouston]

Blimp pathway suggestions~

Hey yall! It seems to me that I recall some major changes to restricting "open airspaces" during major public gatherings, i.e. stadiums, major populated areas and so on, by non-essential aircraft, blimps specifically, by the Dept. of Homeland Gestapo, errr Security! Somebdy might wanna check on this before dropping those kinda bucks. My undersatanding is that with a good tail wind the blimp can make about 18 - 20 knots or 24 - 30 MPH. The ambient temperature aloft is also a factor because colder air is more dense thereby causing more friction.

RickNHouston

 

[BeFranklin]

Hey yall! It seems to me that I recall some major changes to restricting "open airspaces" during major public gatherings, i.e. stadiums, major populated areas and so on, by non-essential aircraft, blimps specifically, by the Dept. of Homeland Gestapo, errr Security! Somebdy might wanna check on this before dropping those kinda bucks. My undersatanding is that with a good tail wind the blimp can make about 18 - 20 knots or 24 - 30 MPH. The ambient temperature aloft is also a factor because colder air is more dense thereby causing more friction.

RickNHouston

Be optimistic. We need to choose the event carefully. Attempts to prevent Ron Paul's blimp from flying over a major event is actually a good thing, because it shows what the war on being American, err I mean terrorism, is, and gives us a chance to bring that home to America -- What are we becoming? Where has our political leaders led us? LET THE FREEDOM BLIMP FLY!

 

[JayCANelson]

More thoughts

I think everyone can agree that a primary goal of this project is to gain media exposure. It's my feeling that a strong Iowa Ron Paul showing will net 20 times the exposure than any other coverage will.

I think we should specifically discuss...

1. What is the true value of having the blimp in Boston for the Tea Party? Yes, it might have a symbolic value to the people in the RonPaulForums. But past that, I'm not seeing a lot of return on investment. There's barely any national coverage of the Boston tea party anniversary, especially since its in the midst of Christmas season.

2. Other than Times Square revelers, what is the value of having the blimp in Times Square during the New Years celebration. I highly doubt this would be picked up on national TV. No network would mingle politics in the New Years revelry. But once again, these are just my thoughts.

3. FYI, 332,400 vehicles per day travel over the Illinois segment of I90/I94. This is a high density area, but there's still a really high level of traffic up and down this corridor in the outlying areas.

4. We need to analyze risk. What if we key the blimp on an area and Ron Paul doesn't do good? Personally, I doubt this will happen but anyone can feel free to weigh in if they want.

5. Yes, I'd bee-line that blimp straight to New Hampshire after its tour of Iowa.

6. Having come from just north of the Iowa border, I can attest to the RAPID pace that news would spread about the blimp. They simply don't have blimps in Iowa like other places.

But once again, my main point is that a strong showing in Iowa nets us WAAAYYY more media exposure than any other place. It's the reasons all candidates put most of their chips there.

Please, please, let's have more discussion on this one.

JN

 

[[email protected]]

Park the Blimp right on top of the White House!

I can imagine the newspaper headlines: Military shoots down Air Force Ron as it attempts landing at the White House.

 

[JayCANelson]

Proposed Blimp route

The following blimp route would span 23 states, be entirely over interstates, hit many major metro areas and would hit the homebases of all major news networks. And this route would take 20 of the 30 days, so we'd have 8-10 days left to spend hovering over the places of choice. Just an idea....

Disclaimer: I live in Atlanta but this has nothing to do why I'd include Atlanta on this route.

 

[fireworks_god]

That looks really cool, but what about West Virginia? Getting it to Iowa and South Carolina seems like a priority.

The idea itself is whimsical, I hope we can really get this going, because it would be phenomenal.

 

[dcatman]

I will drive my self to the route just to get a look! This idea is so crazy it just might work!

 

[Primbs]

I like the fact that we can fly over michigan on the way to Iowa and leaving Iowa for New Hampshire.

Here is a primary map by date.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/primaries/republicanprimaries/index.html

 

[francisco]

I think everyone can agree that a primary goal of this project is to gain media exposure. It's my feeling that a strong Iowa Ron Paul showing will net 20 times the exposure than any other coverage will.

I think we should specifically discuss...

1. What is the true value of having the blimp in Boston for the Tea Party? Yes, it might have a symbolic value to the people in the RonPaulForums. But past that, I'm not seeing a lot of return on investment. There's barely any national coverage of the Boston tea party anniversary, especially since its in the midst of Christmas season.

There will be national media exposure regarding the fundraising on Dec.16th, and the BOSTON Tea Party is the theme. The Blimp is an additional quirky point of attention which will get lots of air play if it is at the very scene where the original Revolutionary act occurred, and where Ron Paul supporters will rally to show our strength. No other location resonates as much or will acheive as much interest. Imagine TV images throughout the day of the Blimp hovering over hordes of sign wavers at the Faneuil Hall rally, and over the USS Constitution and the many other historic spots around Boston! Arranging for Dr. Paul to be present for on-scene interviews would further amplify the impact.

2. Other than Times Square revelers, what is the value of having the blimp in Times Square during the New Years celebration. I highly doubt this would be picked up on national TV. No network would mingle politics in the New Years revelry. But once again, these are just my thoughts.

NATIONAL TV COVERS THIS EVENT. Huge television audience watches the scene of the "Ball dropping" over Times Square. Visualize the backlit blimp hovering in the background! Also, Times Square is literally packed with people, an audience sizable alone to justify an appearance. A Blimp adds to the festivities and attracts lots of attention.

The route you have plotted is about 1200 miles long and against the prevailing winds from the west. The website says that the average cruise speed is 30mph; if this is airspeed , then a 15 mph headwind would yield a flying time of 80 hours. Is staffing provided to fly cross-country at night?--if not, the trip might well take longer than a week. Bear in mind this is Winter and the Blimp could wind up stranded in an area with little media value.

The best resource to answer this question is really the experts who own and operate the Blimp.

I myself would love to see the Blimp visit Iowa, but I don't think the cost in time getting there and back will be worth it.

Staying along the east coast is primarily North / South and the headwind effect is smaller.


Just my 2 cents.

 

[JayCANelson]

Maybe you're right

I don't know. Maybe getting to Iowa isn't worth the cost. Ideally, I hope we could raise enough for multiple months. I hope multiple people can weigh in.

IMHO, the blimp offers the best form of advertising for the money. Booyah to Trevor/whomever for dreaming this up.

 

[francisco]

The following blimp route would span 23 states, be entirely over interstates, hit many major metro areas and would hit the homebases of all major news networks. And this route would take 20 of the 30 days, so we'd have 8-10 days left to spend hovering over the places of choice. Just an idea....

Disclaimer: I live in Atlanta but this has nothing to do why I'd include Atlanta on this route.

Despite my reservations about the feasibility of going as far west as Iowa against prevailing headwinds (Which can only be answered by the people with experience who own & operate the Blimp), this route seems pretty interesting.

How about going around the circuit counter-clockwise, timing the start of the trip from NC to arrive in Boston for Tea Party? Then the westbound leg has less risk--in case of bad weather or headwinds, the blimp could turn around in favor of areas with better conditions, and get there quickly with a tailwind. If Iowa is reached successfully, then the tailwind helps getting back East for the remainder of the route.

In any case, anyone buying into this project recognize the risks presented by wind and weather, and must be willing to be flexible.

 

[wxflyguy]

I'll volunteer my aviation weather experience for this excellent undertaking.

 

[wxflyguy]

Maximize Large Population Early

I honestly think you should maximize the largest population EARLY, which means focusing on E. Coast. This will also allow you to hit hard early just in case the weather dumps on you you're at least hitting D.C. instead of Nashville, TN (nothing against TN).

Not to mention, this way you are able to hit Boston on/about Dec 16 for Tea Party 07, hit New Hampshire, THEN bolt west to try and make it to Iowa for the 3 Jan caucus.

 

[JayCANelson]

Boston Tea Party

I'm very hesitant to believe the Boston tea party anniversary will get significant TV coverage. Has anyone ever seen any TV coverage of this anniversary? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I totally don't believe the blimp would be in the background for any Times Square ball-dropping shots. News stations would almost certainly pick a camera angle that would not have a distraction in the background.

Another thing worth debating is the relationship between when the blimp flies over a state and the time of it's primaries. I was thinking the blimp flyovers should be chronological related to the Iowa going first and NH second. But maybe this isn't a big thing.

With that being said, the counter clockwise idea has merit. I'll admit my math was flawed at some point, so this circular route would likely necessitate a bit more than a full month of the blimp. But I still think the route has merit.

Yes, I agree there are many open questions yet that need answering. Perhaps the heads of this project could appoint someone to contact the blimp company for their input. Also, the sooner we know the budget, the clearer the blimp routing plan will be come.

Anyways, those are my updated two cents - which are often worth < $.02!

JN

 

[JayCANelson]

SkySpot Advertising?

Perhaps a good compromise would be not having the Blimp go to Iowa but having a SkySpot advertising plane hit Iowa instead? This would obviously expand the scope of the project.

We'd have to locate a SkySpot advertiser that could hit Iowa. I could look into this in two days, but I'm a bit busy til then.

 

[JayCANelson]

Oops. The SkySpot advertising link

Whoops. I botched adding the SkySpot link to the previous message....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2JIt88ieu8

 

[themom]

Exactly, IOWA and NH...if he can make it there He'll make it everywhere!!