It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane – No, It’s Snoopy One

September 30, 2011

“Snoopy One”  — one of three MetLife Blimps — was spotted over Atmore late Thursday afternoon.

According to the company, none of the MetLife blimps requires the use of a home base.  Together, “Snoopy One” and “Snoopy Two” combine to travel approximately 120,000 miles a year throughout the United States.  Traveling with each MetLife blimp is a dedicated 14 member crew: two pilots and twelve crewmen. The ground crew includes electronic engineers, mechanics, licensed radio technicians, and riggers.  In addition to these highly specialized personnel, each MetLife blimp operation requires five ground support vehicles; to move the blimp and crew from one location to the next.

The primary focus of the blimp program is providing aerial coverage of sporting and special events. In a typical year, “Snoopy One” and “Snoopy Two” cover approximately 70 events for a variety of networks including NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN and TGC. The blimps can be seen capturing shots of events ranging from the US Open and PGA Championship, to NFL football games across the country.

Pictured above: “Snoopy One” as seen over Highway 21 in Atmore about 4:30 Thursday afternoon. Photo by Kim McCullough for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane – No, It’s Snoopy One”

  1. David Huie Green on October 3rd, 2011 5:02 pm

    REGARDING:
    “I wonder what it cost an hour to operate that “

    Just as a mental exercise having no ties to reality, let’s assume the 14 people each make $70,000 per year. Pilots would likely be more, riggers likely less, so juggle the numbers to suit yourself. Ignore depreciation on the blimp since we don’t know what it cost anyway and on the trucks for the same reason. Just pretend like people are the sole cost.

    $70,000/year/person X 14 person / 365 days/year / 24 hours/day = $112/hour (more or less)

    That should be within three miles of being in the ballpark.

    David making wild guess

  2. 429SCJ on September 30th, 2011 10:16 pm

    I wonder what it cost an hour to operate that zepplin. I bet you can see everything on the ground in good detail.

  3. David Huie Green on September 30th, 2011 9:23 am

    that looks like fun

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News