Where in the world is the Appliances Online Legend Blimp?

Did you once spot arguably the most interesting airborne craft in living memory to make its way across Australian skies?

Do you have no idea what we’re talking about, and wish that we’d get to the point? Fair enough. We're waxing lyrical about the Appliances Online Legend Blimp.

More accurately described by aviation enthusiasts as a non-rigid airship, the Appliances Online Legend Blimp or Lightship was the largest (and only!) blimp flying in the Southern Hemisphere when it was launched.

Built by the Van Wagner Airship Group, the Legend Blimp was 11 metres wide, 13.4 metres tall, and 39 metres long. To put that in perspective, it’s approximately the length of three buses, parked bumper to bumper. Five Appliances Online Lightships stacked on top of one another would equal the height of the Sydney Opera House.

Those beautiful lights in the night sky... is that..? Could it be... Aurora Australis? Well, not exactly, more like Aurora Appliancis.

The term 'lightship' has nothing to do with the blimp’s weight – instead, it refers to the two powerful 1000 watt lightbulbs situated inside the balloon, which could illuminate the Legend Blimp for night-time flights.

The Legend Blimp was a piloted aircraft and was not remotely controlled.

Blimps are extremely rare these days, due to the high operating costs and logistics involved - so when one does come around, it's a genuinely special, possibly a once-in-a-lifetime, experience.

While there’s normally only one or two staff aboard the gondola (that's the little 'cockpit' or basket beneath the balloon) during flight, the Legend Blimp’s 13-strong crew included two qualified pilots, two licensed aviation mechanics, a crew chief and a clerk, as well as ground staff that included watch keepers and ground crew.

Of course it is! We wouldn’t have flown it otherwise.

Before you start crying out “oh the humanity!” remember that the Legend Blimp was inflated with helium, not hydrogen, so it was completely non-flammable.

For the safety of our pilots and ground crew, the Legend Blimp team kept a close eye on the weather, and if rain, storms or strong winds were forecast, the Legend Blimp stayed grounded.

Click here to watch a timelapse of the Legend Blimp being constructed.

The Legend Blimp was initially inflated in October 2014, and had its first test flights around Melbourne and its surrounds.

It was in December 2014, however, that the Legend Blimp had its official launch, celebrated on Sydney Harbour.

Since then, the Legend Blimp had quite a few adventures – making circles around Sydney, returning to Melbourne via Canberra and Albury, and making its way back to Sydney before winging (blimping?) its way northward to Newcastle…

…Coffs Harbour…

…Port Macquarie…

…and Brisbane.