Fly the Blimp over New York City!

[texasliberty]

Flying the Blimp over Disney World is a great idea and worth trying. But if the Blimp is headed north at some point, and airspace restrictions in any way allow it, the best media stunt will be to fly the Blimp over New York City!

All the mainstream media lives there. If they could look out their window and film it, one of them would, and then all of them would have to. NYC is huge and populated by millions, who would see it. And for an extra bonus, it would really annoy Rudy Giuliani :)

We'd need to be organized about it, plan it a few days ahead of time (at least one) and tell the media in an organized way so that they have as much opportunity as possible to film it. But if you fly the Blimp anywhere near NYC, you'll definitely get lots of good TV.

[gecko42]

I think the Fuji blimp flew over NYC post-911.

[liberty_rp08]

I think the Fuji blimp flew over NYC post-911.

That was during the 2004 Republican National Convention and it was being used by the NYPD.

[austin356]

I think the Fuji blimp flew over NYC post-911.


this is what happens when you allow the police to put cameras on the blimp

[liberty_rp08]

Fly it over Giants Stadium across the river at the Meadowlands in New Jersey when the Patriots go for the first ever 16-0 undefeated NFL season versus the Giants on Saturday, December 29th. The blimp will be in town for New Year's Eve, right?

[dvictr]

the northeast sucks to have a blimp because theres always the possibility it gets grounded over weather :/... the blimp is no good sitting in a hanger... it needs to be flying with sunny skies

[AceNZ]

Exposure in NY and the rest of the northeast would be great.

However, the weather is a big problem. Blimps don't like the wind. Cloudy, overcast, rainy days mean the blimp wouldn't be visible, and even if it was, there wouldn't be very many people outside to see it.

As others have said, the blimp should stay in the southeast where the risk of weather down-time is much less.

[BeFranklin]

That was during the 2004 Republican National Convention and it was being used by the NYPD.

Since this is the exact same blimp with a different logo on it, that shouldn't be a problem. It would be a perfect case to test free speech laws, and bring home why there is a war on acting like an American, because nothing is more American then flying a blimp in high publicity places.

However, the blimp legal team that could have tested the FEC laws and free speech laws have apparently quite, the blimp is flying over cornfields in South Carolina instead of high publicity events that need a free speech lawyer, and very likely still has one banner on it, and there is another 140k needed by this Friday with supporters having no idea what is going on.

Too bad the legal team quite, the blimp isn't flying over those dense event areas to protest anything, and it didn't even make the boston tea party.

The news generated from liftoff paid for it to that point, which was a good gamble and risk, and one I took as well. However, it doesn't have a point after this point except for the things mentioned above. By not keeping the grassroots involved, going viral or generating the publicity wanted with the blimp is not possible for this project. I don't even think it will do anything for Christmas.

If we still want a blimp, I recommend getting another blimp on the west coast for the superbowl, and use different project managers, and use the lessons learned from this project.

[dfalken]

Flying it in the New York City area should not be a problem at all. I am a private pilot in the NYC area and I regularly fly up and down the Hudson with friends and family to give them a birdseye view of the city. The airspace over the Hudson River is a VFR corridor below 1100ft meaning you don't even need to be in contact with air traffic control to fly in that area. I don't know if the same FAA rules apply to blimps but I would imagine the blimp would be able to fly up and down the Hudson below 1100 without having to tell anyone about it just like us general aviation private pilots can. To fly above the city they would have to get cleared by ATC (clearance can be obtained while in flight) but it is not a security clearance it is a simple Class Bravo (the controlled airspace around the three major airports in the NYC area) clearance which pilots like me get all the time.

Flying over Giants stadium is a different story as since 9/11 our "freedom fighting politicians" imposed no fly zones above and around stadiums during events for "national security" reasons...so for that a security clearance would be needed and I would imagine would be hard to get...especially since I don't think any of the powers that be are especially fond of Ron Paul or our movement.

[seanc7nyc]

I live in Queens, NY right on the east river. There are blimps flying over the city all the time (but mostly in the summer).

This would be great. Talk about getting the maximum exposure. The NY Giants/Pats game is an 8:15 game, so that wouldn't work. But great idea.

[dmspilot00]

They definitely can fly over NYC. New York (nor any other city) doesn't have the type of flight restrictions that D.C. has. If the weather is good they could just fly up and down the Hudson corridor which you do not even need permission to fly in.

[gecko42]

It's good to have some real info from pilots.