World's Largest Zeppelin To Make Stop In Oklahoma City

Deanne Stein, News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Get ready to catch an up close and personal look at one the world's largest Zeppelins, as it pulls into Oklahoma City Monday night during an historic national tour.

The Farmers Airship is one of the world's largest airships and one of only two Zeppelins in the world. It will make a stop in Oklahoma City at Wiley Post Airport on Monday, September 19 around 5:30 p.m.

The stop is part of the Farmer's Airship Covering Communities Tour, the first-ever Zeppelin cross-country tour in the United States. During it's six-month journey, the Farmers Airship will sail in the skies of nearly half of the nation's states. More than two dozen communities are expected to host the Zeppelin for extended stays during April-September, 2011.

The Zeppelin will head out September 20, weather permitting, to its next destination in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Track the Zeppelin's journey and even submit a sighting!

Quick Facts About the Farmers Airship:

• The Farmers Airship is a Zeppelin, not a blimp – featuring an internal structural framework, powerful engines, state-of-the-art avionics, and fly-by-wire flight controls, enabling her to perform maneuvers similar to those performed by helicopters, including vertical takeoffs and landings.

• The Farmers Airship is one of only two Zeppelins currently flying in the world today and the only such airship in the U.S. or Americas.

• At 246 feet in length, the Farmers Airship is the largest passenger airship in the world, 15 feet longer than a Boeing 747 and 50 feet longer than the largest blimp.

• The Farmers Airship is the only commercial passenger airship in the United States; it is owned and operated by Airship Ventures

• The Farmers Airship's cabin holds 12 passengers plus two crew, and boasts luxury features like oversized windows (some open!), an on-board restroom with a view, and a rear loveseat complete with a panoramic, wrap-around window. Her tear-proof outer envelope is filled with non-flammable helium.

• When not supporting Farmers community events across the nation, the Farmers Airship regularly offers flight-seeing tours and custom charters above the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Greater Los Angeles.

• The airship's steady, smooth flight and great panoramas has made her an ideal scientific research and observation platform for organizations including NASA, SETI, Cal-EMA, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Woods Hole Institute and NOAA.