Capt. John Mchugh

The first time I saw the Soaring Dreams airship was in Long Beach CA about a year ago. I met up with Capt. John McHugh who happen to be there filling in for another pilot. He took me and my dad out to the field and showed her to us close up. We where both so impressed the way she looked. Something that caught our eye that made her unique was 1. the way she looked and 2. that all her decals had the signatures of the kids who painted them.

We where invited aboard to see her from the inside. Capt McHugh showed us how everything worked. On the day that we where there they had the camera mounted on her. He explained to us how the camera worked and showed us the control panel that the camera operator uses to control the camera.

Finally he showed us the cockpit and explained the differences between her and the Fuji Film blimp. Basically all the controls where the same except for the engine controls. He told us that the Soaring Dreams airship had fuel mixture controls and prop pitch controls and that the Fuji blimp didn't.

I even had a chance to control the yoke making the elevator's go up and down and making the rudders turn left and right. A big THANK YOU to Capt. John McHugh for such an awesome day at the Long Beach airport, I will never forget it.

Leo Freitas - Webmaster www.blimp-operations.us

Hayward CA