SDR-Hammer

I’m still monitoring this thread and hope to contact some blimp makers for a joint effort on selling this idea to our local hockey team for next season. Please keep posting!

Went to a game just recently and started envisioning how this could be done at our rink. I have a question for the veterans. Has the recent adoption of netting at the end of the rink altered your “flight path”?

bradley

My Feedback: (-1)

You bet the netting changed things greatly.
It is not too hard to fly around with a little practice but we were told not to do so. The kids follow the blimp around the corner and trample the patrons to keep up. we now only drop from blue line to blue line and never fly parallel over the sections. We fly straight in to any section hover then drop, we then return to center ice.
half the patrons never get a chance at the prizes now, not just from us. There is also a co2 gun that shoots t-shirts into the crowd and a motorized car with a slingshot that does the same sort of thing?
The complaints always came from the blimp because of its slow speed and the ability of children to keep up with it. The worst in the last 5 years was 6 weeks ago. A kid jumped over someone in a wheelchair (handicapped area) and hurt the disabled persons neck. Minor injury but a significant incident.
Thanks Brad

dwango

We fly a 12' helium blimp at my college's hockey games.


(This is from the company that made it. I think the stadium is "photoshopped" in.)

We don't have a drop mechanism, and I don't know that we will. We intend to mount a tilt/pan camera in the bottom of the gondola, and that will be about all we can lift (camera, tilt/pan mechanism, transmitter, battery). The crowd really seems to enjoy when we play chicken with the Zamboni.

bradley

My Feedback: (-1)

Looks good.
we often chase the Zamboni as well. we can go faster but he sure can beat us in acceleration and change of direction!
Maybe we should just eliminate the drops and use it as floating advertising space. Less of an attraction but would surely eliminate our constant complaints?
Thanks brad

SDR-Hammer

Dwango, I’d say your right about the editing, that stadium is the Pontiac Silver Dome during World Cup Soccer several years ago.

Bradley, are the drops a source of income? Also how many home games does your team play and do you fly all of them?

bradley

My Feedback: (-1)

Yes, some income does come from the drops but most of the income is still the space on the blimp. We drop twice per game every game exhibition, regular season and playoff games?
Thanks Brad

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

anyone see the blimps they had at the Millennium dome? were set up with pilots then when they "learnt" the space they were set free to go play.
very agile blimps those

MajorTomski

We had a guy with a hot air balloon blimp that dropped 6 Pingpong balls at each intermission here in OKC, and we've never had anyone chase the blimps or balloons or get injured. Only side effect that I see that although my blimp looks completely different from the pingpong ball dropper, people still put their hands up to catch something just like Pavlov trained them.

In our market the team charges $300.00 per side per night for the advertising banners, out of that I get $80.00 to fly and haul helium.

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

I've seen snips of programs with bits on them, but nothing too much.
Each one was semi intelligent, it knew it's boundary limits and also where the others were, simple flocking behavior was programed in..
The rest was up to them but manual over ride was there if needed. i'd be doing that all the time if i got to play

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

We sell the advertising space as well as drop coupons for a couple local restraunts. We have the same deal with the end nets but most of our crowd (we average 4000 in a 13,000 seat arena) sit in the center sections anyways so its not a problem. We have not had any problems with people chasing the blimp or killing themselves over the prizes yet either but this is our first season with the blimp.

Andy

bradley

My Feedback: (-1)

Why oh why do we have so much trouble? I think security can be better but the team thinks they are doing there best? Security is very aware but has been able to do little. Often the section ushers are somewhat older (read as damn near dead) and have a difficult time dealing with fast moving children. The bad actors are between 6 and 12 years old.

I wish I had further answers? Everyone else seems to have little or no trouble?
Thanks Brad

blimppilot@ph

hi dwango

im eds from the philippines for you blimp guys out there i also got paid for flying the blimp
we already have an 11' blimp and i am making major modifications for the blimp,
right now our company are putting up resources and materials so that i could make a larger blimp, i am the one who designs it but we have made arrangements to our exclusive manufacturer who will produce the blimp from my blueprints i have many drop mechanism designs in which all of them are in the production phase, right now i am building the internal lighting for the blimp so that the whole blimp is illuminated from the inside and it can be seen at night
does anyone of you out there has internal lighting like what i have designed?