Mihnea Chis and Ioan Grecu are the owners of the only zeppelin in Romania and use it as an advertising tool for the companies renting it. The zeppelin flew over Ramnicu-Valcea in August 1999, while hundreds of people were watching the sun eclipse.
Arad-born Mihnea Chis and Ioan Grecu were in Germany four years ago when they, who were passionate about flying, had the opportunity to see an entire fleet of advertising hot air balloons. An ambitious idea struck them afterwards: if this is a good business in Germany, a country overstuffed with advertising, why should it not be successful in Romania?
The efforts of the two people to buy a hot air balloon failed over the first months due to the huge prices. The salvation came from another "flying monster": a deflated zeppelin whose engine was covered by dust was lying down in a hangar, near an aircraft for hunting expeditions.
For DM 15,000, the zeppelin changed its German nationality and took off for Arad. The zeppelin brought several advertising contracts concluded throughout the country and hundreds of Romanians turned their heads to see the huge dirigible holding advertising banners and flying above the cities.
The flight that made the only zeppelin from Romania famous was the one performed during the sun eclipse in 1999, when a ProTV cameraman joined the crew. Millions of people watching the TV could see the crowd of people gathered downtown Ramnicu-Valcea, where the sun eclipse had its visibility peak.
"Our zeppelin is the only dirigible in Romania. There are about 50 dirigibles throughout the world and most of them are being used for research," Mihnea Chis says. One hour of zeppelin advertising costs between 400 and 500 dollars.
During the same eclipse year, Ioan Grecu experienced the only moments of doubt in his entire career of pilot.
As he was in Arad to honour an advertising contract at a foodstuff fair held at Sala Polivalenta, the zeppelin was caught by a blow of wind and suddenly rose in the air, heading for Timisoara with Grecu inside the nacelle, having totally lost control over the airship. Mihnea Chis chased the zeppelin in his car at top speed.
The actual problem occurred when the zeppelin landed, as, due to the huge volume of the veiling, the dirigible had to be moored to the ground and this operation had to be simultaneously performed by more people.
By the time the car of the chasers reached the landing site, Grecu had been fighting for 20 minutes to keep the veiling away from the propane flame, whose role is to heat the air in the balloon. This was the only adventure of Arad-based pilots on board of the dirigible.
The first dirigible in the history, LZ-1, was invented by the German count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who spent the bulk of his family wealth on construction a huge cigar-shaped aircraft.
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