Believe In Tomorrow is very proud to announce the formation of a major program partnership with Syngenta Corporation, a global agribusiness based in North Carolina. Syngenta is a leader in crop protection and the commercial seed market. Our partnership involves their new blimp, the AVICTA Complete Cotton Airship, which will tour throughout the Southern United States. Everywhere the blimp goes it will be providing our Believe In Tomorrow families with rides, and spreading the word about Believe In Tomorrow and AVICTA Complete Cotton.
 

In the next four months alone, the AVICTA Complete Cotton Blimp will provide over 50 rides to children and families in nine separate cities throughout the South. Syngenta employs over 21,000 people in 90 countries worldwide. Since it's inception in 1996, our Hands On Adventures Blimp Program has given thousands of critically ill children and their families the thrill of a lifetime as passengers aboard blimp airships throughout the United States.

Here are some fun facts about blimps:

• What does it feel like to fly in the blimp?
  A flight in the AVICTA blimp has been described as a “magic carpet ride.”
• Did you know that you cannot purchase a flight aboard a blimp at any price?
  Our passengers are truly special, as flights are by personal invitation only.
• There are less than 25 airships flying throughout the world today.
• The AVICTA Lightship is 128 feet long and weights 4,394 pounds inflated. The big envelope is filled with non-flammable helium, and could hold millions of golf balls!
• The blimp can travel at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour.  It usually flies at approximately 1,000 feet above the earth.  It takes off and lands like an airplane.
• Airships have the best safety record of any type of aircraft. Working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, the AVICTA blimp went through exhaustive testing procedures to acquire its type approval and certificate of airworthiness.
• The AVICTA blimp is proudly flown by Chief Pilot Terry Dillard. Terry is from Orlando and has been a pilot for 35 years. Terry is part of an exclusive group — more people are qualified to land the Space Shuttle than are qualified to land a blimp!
• As you board the AVICTA blimp, you’ll note that our pilot and ground crew communicate with hand signals, using the radio as a backup. Believe it or not, blimps were flying long before radios were built, and hand signals have been handed down from generation to generation of airship crews. The ground-based Crew Chief will signal our Chief Pilot and the ground crew about weight and balance, ground taxi operations and take-off procedures.
• The AVICTA blimp is almost completely self-contained. We set up our own mast at the airport. The big trailers that you’ll see house an engineering shop for our mechanics, a business office for the crew, spare parts and crew luggage.
• Fuel efficient and environmentally friendly, the AVICTA Complete Cotton blimp consumes less fuel in two weeks than a 747 jet uses to taxi to the end of the runway for take-off.