EVENTS & NEWS

1-19-04

After the Holiday Bowl we took a few days off to enjoy the New Year. Coming back to work after such a great holiday is always hard but we had to start heading back to Las Vegas. Hopefully everyone got the chance to stop by the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center between January 8 and11, if so, you probably saw us overhead. CES is always a fun time for us. We spend the entire day flying over the strip while all the top leaders of worldwide technology companies are there below us.

After the show we went over to Long Beach to hang out for a few days near our hanger. Once a year we have to go spend two weeks in our hanger for annual maintenance and inspections. This year even more exciting is that we are also getting a new bag! We are getting completely refurbished. So with the New Year you can be on the lookout for a whole new Sanyo Lightship!

We won’t be leaving the hanger until the beginning of January but if you see the beautiful new Sanyo Lightship on its way from the hanger to Los Angeles make sure to wave and let us know. See you then!

*Events subject to change

12-30-03

Santa Day with the Believe in Tomorrow children was a huge success! Santa came to make the days flights even more exciting for the children. Each child had their dream come true when they got to meet Santa and go for a ride in the Sanyo Lightship!

Since then we have been doing passenger rides almost daily for the people of the Sanyo corporation as well as stations such as ESPN who has used the ship many times this year. We look forward to seeing more of them and many other stations in the year to come!

We have taken a couple of days off recently to celebrate the holidays, we hope yours we wonderful as well. Please tune in to see us over the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on December 30th, which is our last event before the New Year and heading to Las Vegas!

Happy Holidays and have a safe New Year!

*Events subject to change

11-26-03

After the NHRA awards ceremony we have been very busy! We stayed in the San Bernardino area to change our engine. That was a challenge! The weather was very uncooperative and there was a torrential downpour the whole time we did our engine change. Way to go to Chuck Williams and Matt Bobier for doing such a great job!

We then headed to the San Francisco and Oakland areas where we will be until after Thanksgiving. Since being here we have being doing aerial display and passenger rides everyday. Last Sunday we provided our BIT children with their flights and felt the truly rewarding feeling that brings. One of the children had to be hospitalized just days before his scheduled flight but the staff of his hospital worked his treatment around his flight time and he got the experience of a lifetime with us!

This Saturday you will see us overhead at the Notre Dame vs. Stanford game which will be on ABC. From there we head to Los Angeles to be over the Oregon State vs. USC game next Saturday.

After the football games we will be heading back to our home in San Diego. Here we will have to opportunity to do more passenger flights, and BIT flights. The Believe in Tomorrow foundation is having Santa Day with flights on Dec. 12th. Santa will be there with the children and lifting their spirits for the holidays.

* Events subject to change

11-3-03

The Sanyo blimp had a great trip to Phoenix! We covered the Gila River Golf Classic at the beautiful Gila River Resort and Casino. After a few days rest from all that work we were honored to be asked to participate in a football game between two rival High Schools, Mesa vs. Red Mountain. It isn’t a regular occurrence that a High School game gets such recognition but the teams were so good and the event so much fun that when we were asked to come back for the championship game next year we couldn’t refuse!

While still in Phoenix we gave some rides for the children with Believe in Tomorrow which is always a fun time for us. Unfortunately because of the weather the flights were threatened a bit, but we managed to still get safely in the air and fulfill dreams for a few wonderful children.

Then it was off to Vegas! The NHRA races were the 25th and 26th. We got to be there when some famous faces showed up, such as, Chubby Checker, the guys from Kiss and Aerosmith. Even with the winds it was a great day for a race.

We will be staying in Vegas for a few more days before we leave for California again and attend the NHRA races in Pomona. You can even see our camera shots on the NHRA awards ceremony on ESPN.

We will be spending the rest of the year in California. Keep checking back to see if we might be in your area soon. Hope to see you on our travels!

* Events subject to change

09-16-03

It's been an exciting few weeks for the Sanyo Lightship. We went to Kansas City Missouri after leaving Cincinnati. We spent four days there in which we got to provide more children with Believe in Tomorrow with the opportunity to ride in the sky aboard the Sanyo blimp. We also we asked to attend the grand opening of the new Furniture Mart in the area where we flew more passengers.

We just landed in Memphis for the NHRA races this weekend. You can look for us overhead on the 20th & 21st there. Right before we leave on the 22nd we are doing one last passenger flight for a little boy and his family associated with Believe in Tomorrow. Of course we believe hurricane Isabel will not alter our plans like many other ships on the East Coast.

This is it then. Now we start our long transit to the West Coast. We have to make it before winter comes. You might get to see us fly by you if you are in the Arkansas, Texas or Nevada area, however the first event you can catch us at will be October 2, in Seaside California for the Monterey Peninsula Classic with the Golf Channel and the weekend after that we will be working with them again for the Gila River Golf Classic in Phoenix.

We have some other really interesting possibilities while we are in the area as well so keep checking back for the update on where you will find us. We might be in your area so keep an eye out for us. We hope to see you during our travels!

* Events subject to change

07-13-03
Children's Hospital Believe in Tomorrow

The Sanyo Lightship has just left the Boston area. While we were there we got to be included in many exciting things. We worked with The Golf Channel for three days during the Fleet Boston Classic. We did two Red Sox games including the one where the 10,000th homerun was hit out of Fenway, which was played for the next two days on ESPN's Sportscenter. To add to this, we flew our Believe in Tomorrow families as well as Dean Latief (the first American voted onto the Sanyo Board) and his family.

Right now the Sanyo Lightship is on the way to Ottawa and Montreal to visit our Sanyo Canada family for the next two weeks. After that it is back to Indianapolis for the last pre-season football game at the RCA Dome on August 29th and the NHRA races August 31st & September 1st. After that we will be in Cincinnati for the Kroger Senior Classic and then back to the west coast for the winter. We might be near your area so keep an eye out for us. Hope to see you during our travels!

* Events subject to change