[media-credit name=’CHARLIE GORICHANAZ/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Even a thousand feet above Camp Randall Stadium, the crash of two football players generates enough noise to put a smile on the face of blimp pilot Andrea Deyling.

She doesn't pretend to be a Badger fan — Deyling learned to fly at Kent State University in Ohio — but during the past two weeks she's cheered for the undefeated home team above a sea of red.

"We're low enough that you can see what's going on," Deyling said during a postgame ride Saturday over the city. "I prefer the day games just because I like to see what's around me."

One reason she is partial to game days is safety — it is simply easier to see other aircraft during the day — but early games also allow the pilot to observe thousands of University of Wisconsin fanatics outside the stadium.

"You can just feel the energy," she said.

As the Badger football team continues its undefeated streak and climbs national rankings — now No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Poll — aerial views of Camp Randall Stadium and Madison are becoming more common. Companies that own blimps are attracted to nationally televised games because the flying advertisement reaches more consumers.

Blimps have been a rare sight in Madison for several years, but the Outback Steakhouse blimp, which Deyling pilots, appeared in Madison for the past two games.

Saturday's aerial coverage against Michigan State University was unexpected, crew chief Liam Downey said after the game. The Outback blimp stayed in Madison for an extra week because another team dropped in the rankings and TV networks expressed interest in the UW game.

"That stuff happens all the time," the 14-year blimp veteran said.

Downey worked with air safety officials to get clearance to fly over the stadium, but since the blimp was already set up at Middleton Airport, it spent most of last week flying around the city or giving rides to media or people associated with Outback Steakhouse.

As the blimp landed in a grassy field just north of the airport's single landing strip Saturday after the Badger game, several cars followed into a fenced-off parking lot. Kids rushed out of their parent's minivan and ran pointing at the sky.

"I have yet to meet people who say they don't like airships," Downey said. "It's probably one of the safest forms of air travel there is."

A crew of 13 to 15 people regularly checks the 132-foot long Outback blimp, Downey said. It flies using the relatively stable gas helium, unlike the explosive hydrogen used by the Hindenburg zeppelin in 1937, and is propelled by two gas-powered engines.

"Anything bad that's going to happen won't happen quickly," Downey said.

Depending on wind currents, the blimp has a top speed of 30 mph. It is deflated only for cleaning, which means the blimp usually flies between cities. On cross-country trips, Deyling said the blimp flies for eight hours or about 250 miles in one day.

Occasionally the slow blimp will beat the traveling ground crew to its destination because the crew gets caught in traffic. Sometimes the blimp isn't able to travel at all because stormy weather could overpower the small propeller engines.

Downey said the Outback blimp will travel south later this fall as winter and snow approach Wisconsin. Precipitation piled on the blimp increases its weight and decreases its ability to remain lighter than air.

For Deyling, flying between cities and over oceans are probably the best part of blimp piloting. She enjoys football, but there are rarely sharks, whales and dolphins on the field. In Wisconsin, all you get are badgers.