The blimps are truly amazing to watch. Kind of like teaching an elephant to fly. During the last Super Bowl held in Houston, one of the blimps was tethered at my home airport for a few days, when it was not up taking videos for the TV crowd. It was fun to watch it gyrate gently around the mooring pole as the breeze steered it under the watchful eyes of the ground crew. A ride would be a definite experience of a lifetime.
Sad to hear about John Deakin. I never got the chance to meet him in person, but I never heard anyone say an unkind word about the man. I thoroughly enjoy reading his articles on Pelican’s Perch. One that is particularly timely now is his views on finding a drop-in replacement fuel for 100LL. He will be missed.