Let's send the blimp to Brazil!!!

[Freedom4NYC]

Look, I liked the idea of the blimp and I still think it's a great idea. But let's try to get the blimp to places it will make the most impact. Having it fly around random southern states is just as useful as sending it to fly over Brazil for a while.

Let's get the blimp up to NH as was originally promised! If not let's focus on the states that matter now: IA, NH, SC, NV.

[all4one]

Got $$$ ???

The blimp is in FL; and to get it up to New England may just take more time then the blimp is currently funded for (best I can figure)...

So please(!) - buy more time!!!:)

[Ilhaguru]

No, it's too much for the weather. I think Florida is perfect. And it does really matter. Go up to Atlanta once we are done with Florida and then head up north.

[Freedom4NYC]

I'm trying to find a thread that explains why it did not go to NH in the first place. Is it not possible to fly a blimp in cold weather?

Again I'm not against the blimp or funding the blimp. I'm just questioning if our strategy to go after Florida voters when there are more crucial primaries on the horizon is such a good idea.

[FreeTraveler]

I'm trying to find a thread that explains why it did not go to NH in the first place. Is it not possible to fly a blimp in cold weather?

Again I'm not against the blimp or funding the blimp. I'm just questioning if our strategy to go after Florida voters when there are more crucial primaries on the horizon is such a good idea.

One word: Weather

More words: FL primary is 1/29, and Giuliani's only hope. If we hurt him here, he's done. The FL populace is not all New Yorkers, and a lot of New Yorkers don't like Rudy anyway.

Final words: Rudy needs to REALLY understand the term blowback. I think having the blimp here is payback for him really starting Dr. Paul's rise by insulting him in the SC debate. If he hadn't attacked Dr. Paul, about 30% of the people here may never have discovered him, and thus no blimp. Karma, anyone?

[Wolfgang Bohringer]

FL primary is 1/29, and Giuliani's only hope....

I like that strategy. It fits in well in a lot of ways:

- The weather has killed the effectiveness of the blimp so far. Even in Jacksonville, the weather was blamed for missing out on buzzing a big parade and a planned rally. So, parking the blimp at night inland in Florida away from fog and wind for a while would help.

- Benito's inability to keep his mouth shut and follow the script of ignoring RP has indeed been a huge boost to RP's campaign. So why not stalk and taunt him with the blimp all over Florida and sucker him into shooting his mouth off some more?

- Trevor used the Rudy's Reading List theme for the mini-bomb. So, this theme could be continued by doing things like dropping Michael Scheuer books out of the blimp for Benito to retrieve (or something like that).

[mdevour]

I'm trying to find a thread that explains why it did not go to NH in the first place. Is it not possible to fly a blimp in cold weather?


Hey Freedom!

I'm just pulling points out of my memory from threads I've read during the attempt to go north and afterward...

The blimp owner was willing to give it a good try, and did so, even though it's usually extremely tough to fly that far north in wintertime. It was a tangible risk on his part. That willingness may be the best explanation for why our people didn't realize going in that it wasn't going to be realistic.

The winds up north tend to be higher in winter than in the rest of the year, with more chance of grounding the blimp... Its max speed is like 60 mph with a tailwind, and it cruises at like 30. That doesn't give you a lot of maneuverability in 20 mph winds, for instance.

Get that airship caught out in freezing rain or snow, even the slightest coating, and it is grounded and potentially disabled for weeks. I don't know the details as to why, but I can imagine a few... Ice and snow is heavy, and you can't just scrape it off the blimp fabric like you can your windshield. A heavy snow would destroy it completely.

The cabin isn't even heated aboard that thing! Even the couple of days they were flying around Baltimore area they were bundled up and still shivering! :eek:

They got that far north and just could not trust the way the weather was shaping up. Those pilots have access to really good professional meteorology resources and lots of experience with their airships and the weather. There would have had to have been several days of unseasonably clear skies with modest winds in the forecast ... but we're talking the northeast in winter, right?? <sigh>

What they got instead was that huge blizzard the day before the tea party and no letup in sight thereafter.

Finally, some of the elastic shock cords used to secure the banners broke, illustrating how close to the edge of the design envelope they were pushing the equipment. There was risk of losing an entire banner (can you spell r-r-i-i-p-p-p-p!?) that would set the project back at least another couple of weeks, if it could have recovered at all.

So they went back to base to repair and regroup and start re-thinking the strategy for the south.

That's my interpretation of what I've read over the last few weeks.

Mike D.

[ItsTime]

like I said from the start, the blimp will never seen new england or iowa. it needs to say in fl and sc since people actually bought time for it, it might as well be in the air.