Posted on 03/15/2017 5:10:00 PM PDT by EveningStar
Goodyear has let the helium out of the last of its fabled fleet of blimps, but the company's flight program will continue.
About two dozen employees were on hand early Tuesday to witness the deflation of California-based Spirit of Innovation.
But shed no tears, blimp fans, you'll still see a familiar blue-and-gold form floating over your favorite sports event or awards show.
Although the blimp's replacement, Wingfoot Two, will look about the same when it arrives at Goodyear's airship base in Carson later this year, it will be a semi-rigid dirigible.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
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Used to have a model of a Goodyear blimp when I was a kid.
Very interesting. With all of our improved technology I’d love to see another attempt at passenger airships. That would be awesome for really long distance travel. Maybe a bit slower than a jet, but way more comfortable.
Thank goodness! They were flying death traps. One passenger lights up a cigarette and BOOM! OH THE HUMANITY!
I wonder if there are any private companies that have flying homes planned. basically, a cross between a blimp and an RV. If a family has a decent sized spread of land they could tether it near their permanent home and then use the RVBlimp for vacations and such. I’d love to float one up to a nice high altitude to watch a sunset or just get some quiet time above it all.
You do understand the difference between hydrogen and helium, don’t you?
A story that got it right. Most reporters don’t even know what a semi-rigid is. Goodyear probably always had a decent press packet, but finally a reporter bothered to read it?
I took this one at NAS Pensacola around 30 years ago. Not sure what it was doing there.
The Zeppelin company has a 15 passenger (+2 crew) semi-rigid they’ve been flying around Germany. It would still be a bit small for an RV. The craft itself is about as long as a 747.
(Zepp also makes the current Goodyear airships, continuing a relationship that dates back almost 100 years).
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Interesting article about a poorly known air disaster:
There was a Good Year blimp facility in Pompano Beach. It frequently flew up and down both coasts when not scheduled to do events.
My father did a lot of business with Good Year and I actually got to fly, yes pilot, one of them. Now of course this is not a big deal. Once you’re airborne they swapped passengers in and out of the pilot’s seat.
It’s the aerial equivalent of sitting behind the wheel of a ship in the ocean. No skill required, nothing can happen.
I have to say though watching the ground crew coordination and routine on take offs and landings is pretty damn impressive.
“Most reporters don’t even know what a semi-rigid is.”
These jokes just write themselves...
One Sunday afternoon I was driving West on I-10 somewhere West of Marianna, FL. I happened to notice a blimp going along just about parallel with the interstate. He was going only a little faster than the traffic.
After maybe 15 minutes it turned just a little North and eventually disappeared. I got to thinking and it had probably been at a football game in Gainesville on Saturday but it may have come from Pompano Beach.
No idea at all where he was headed.
My co-worker Allen was obsessed with the Blimps and was (probably still) a regular fixture. He even got to drive it.
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