up up and away

A word of caution: if you ever have the opportunity to float around over your city in a Bell Mobility blimp, and the temptation hits you to drink, like, lots of water chased down with a grande Mexican coffee just because it's there and it's free and you haven't had a good coffee in a while, think twice. A thousand feet up is a long way to be without a loo (there is no lieu), and they don't just land those things on command.

Don't worry, I survived, and it wasn't until I got to my car after the hour-long ride that my eyes were really floating. But such a minor thing in the grand scheme.

Yes, I went up in a blimp - although the Bell crew prefer "Lightship" (sounds cooler, plus the ship illuminates from the inside) (I prefer blimp). Whatever. Got a call from my Westside Weekly editor, Pat, on Monday afternoon, asking if I would be interested in a ride Tuesday afternoon. Despite the fact I knew I was doing election coverage for the Province that evening, I said "sure" (come on, like you wouldn't?). With Tuesday came another story from the Province, plus I forgot I still had to vote, so I had to cancel my ride (this is starting to feel like one of those story games I played as a kid - "oh, that's good!" "Oh, that's bad!"). But then they rebooked me on a flight the next day (Oh, that's good!). Before which I drank all the water and coffee (oh, that's bad!). But I digress.

The ride was indeed uber cool. If you're OK with heights, that is. It's a little unnerving going up, and down, and it takes some getting used to sitting in a little box dangling 1,000 feet over the city. Add to that the thrill of dangling your $900 camera out an open window (strap wrapped several times around your wrist of course) and you have yourself a real little exploit!

Some little known blimp facts I picked up along the way:

-> There are more astronauts than blimp pilots
-> You cannot buy a ticket to ride a lightship anywhere in the world
-> The aircraft cruises at an average speed of 76 km/h
-> The balloon part is fed with 20-30 bottles of helium, every two or three weeks in order to lift.
-> The aircraft's passenger bubble - the gondola - can hold six people in addition to the pilot.
-> No one but the pilot is needed onboard, but the ship has 15 crew members that keep it in the air and help to bring it back down to earth
-> While there are all sorts of fancy gadgets in the open cockpit, the pilot basically controls it with two foot pedals (left and right) and a big wheel attached to his seat like a wheel chair wheel (up and down)
-> The world record for a continuous flight was made last September by Carl Harbuck, one of three pilots that was in Kelowna with the Bell blimp this week. He wasn't my pilot, but I talked to him afterward. He said he was up for 24 hours, 39 minutes and 55 seconds, just circling Los Angeles over and over and over again

Anyway, the view from above was fantastic, and I got all sorts of excellent pictures out of the deal, including some of the Greenway, my apartment building and the soon-to-be-replaced floating bridge. My favourite, though, is a shot of the so-called "Cultural District." Upon examination later (once I knew to look), you can JUST make out two figures on the roof of the Kelowna Art Gallery - - Kyle and his co-worker Richard, who went out to try and see me when they heard I'd be floating by. Just sorry I missed the cartwheels.

So that was my great blimping adventure. Highly recommendable, I must say. Just wait on the coffee until you're back on the ground.