License Requirements:

To be considered for the position as an Airframe and Powerplant Technician for The Lightship Group, a person must have a valid FAA Airframe & Powerplant license or a CAA license.

To qualify for the job of Airframe and Powerplant Technician, you must be:

·         Be at least 21 years of age (due to Department of Transportations regulations)

·         Have a current/valid and clean driver’s license

·         Be physically able to do the job (lift 75 pounds, jumping running climbing, pushing, pulling)

·         Be able and willing to travel full time

·         Be able to pass a pre-employment (hair) drug screening and criminal background check

·         Be willing and able to travel 365 days per year

Training:

The majority of training will be on-the-job training. A syllabus is provided for each Technician to work through with his/her Senior Technician.

A formal training program occurs on an annual basis with some outside vendor training.

 
Benefits

Salary dependent upon experience

·         $190.00 PER WEEK PER DIEM. Per diem is not taxed

·         4 Weeks paid vacation

·         Health insurance

·         401k

·         Hotel furnished by the company (shared room with one other member of the team)

·         Uniforms furnished by the company

·         Daily transportation furnished by the company (company vehicles are available during non-working hours for personal needs)

 Duties

An applicant’s number one responsibility is the airworthiness of the airship. Technicians will be expected to conduct daily, 50 and 100 hour inspections on engines, airframe and propellers along with all other duties of preflight and preventative maintenance.

The airship operation is very much a team effort. Applicants are expected to assist with crew duties as required, launching and landing the airship, driving vehicles during transits and standing watches.

Background

The Lightship Group consists of 2 entities.  American Blimp Corporation is the manufacturer of the aircraft and also the parent company.  Along with the operational “arm” of the company, we make up the Lightship Group.  Lightship Operations takes the airships, sells contracts to “high profile” clients who use the aircraft for public relations and advertising.

We provide a “turnkey” operation for those clients, which includes the airship, vehicles, all support equipment and personnel.  We emblazon the airship, vehicles and crew with the identity of the client and set out to accomplish a schedule of events that is intended to promote them and their products in the public arena.

Since the beginning of the company in the mid 1980s, we have worked all over the world flying airships for over 300 clients.  “Never a dull moment in the blimp business”. We have worked on TV productions in the US, Australia, Europe, Brazil, Japan, Peru, China and many other countries.  We have carried the identity of Anheuser Busch , M&M Mars, Kraft, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Miller Brewing Company, General Motors, Block Buster, Sanyo, and the list goes on and on.  We have performed in movie and TV productions, such as Fear Factor, Bay Watch, MTV (Real World and Road Rules) and the movie “Drop Zone”.  Sometimes we have performed stunts such as towing water skiers behind the blimp, carried sky divers, etc. Hardly a weekend goes by in the Spring, Summer and Fall months that one of our airships in not on TV carrying aerial cameras for a sporting event.

Each of our airships has a fulltime crew who assist in the launch and recovery of the airship during flight missions, stand watches for security and weather, maintain support equipment including vehicles, and drives the vehicles that carry the support equipment between destination cities.  The most important job is to represent the client in a public relations capacity at all times.

Each blimp field operation has either, 13, 15 or 17 team members who travel with the airship from city to city.  The Lightship Group parent company, American Blimp Corporation, hold FAA type certificates on 3 different sized airships between 69,000 cubic feet to 180,000 cubic feet.  The difference in crew numbers depends on which of our products is being used for the client sponsor.