Goodyear Blimp
Encyclopedia
Non-rigid airship
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
s operated by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
for advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
purposes and for use as a television camera platform for aerial views of sporting events. Goodyear began producing airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
envelopes in 1911 and introduced its own blimp, The Pilgrim, in 1925.
Fleet
Today there are three blimps in the fleet in the USA:- Spirit of Goodyear, based in Suffield Township, Ohio near AkronAkron, OhioAkron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
- Spirit of America, based in Carson, CaliforniaCarson, CaliforniaCarson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
- Spirit of Innovation, based in Pompano Beach, FloridaPompano Beach, FloridaPompano Beach ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...
All three craft are outfitted with LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
sign technology Goodyear calls "Eaglevision." This allows the aircraft to display bright, multi-colored, animated words and images.
Goodyear also has blimps operating in other parts of the world. These airships are built and operated by The Lightship Group of Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.
In May 2011 Goodyear announced it will be replacing its fleet of blimps with three semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, or occasionally, flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope. The partial framework can also be located inside the hull...
s built by Zeppelin NT
Zeppelin NT
The Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen. The initial model is the NT07...
Lifting agent
The blimps are filled with heliumHelium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
. The helium is maintained under low pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
, so small punctures do not pose serious consequences for the blimp. In fact, one inspection element of the blimps is to look into the envelope for pinpoints of light which are indicative of small holes. The blimps have infrequently been hit by small-arms fire from the ground. Also, birds can hit blimps and make small beak holes. These incidents have not resulted in any serious consequences to the blimp or its crew.
The Goodyear blimps are non-rigid (meaning their shape is not maintained by a rigid internal structure) dirigibles (directable/steerable airships). However, the term dirigible is seldom used in connection with blimps, being associated more with the great rigid airships of the past. Inside their exterior envelope, the Goodyear blimps are equipped with gas bladders. As the blimp ascends or descends, the internal bladders expand or contract to compensate for density changes and to maintain uniform pressure in the envelope.
Classes
The GZ stands for Goodyear-Zeppelin, stemming from the partnership Goodyear had with the German company when both were building airships together. However these three classes came many years after this partnership had dissolved during the start of World War II. The GZ-1 was the USS Akron (ZRS-4)
USS Akron (ZRS-4)
USS Akron was a helium-filled rigid airship of the United States Navy that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crew and passengers on board...
, the U.S. Navy's fourth rigid airship used for several tests including as a flying "aircraft carrier".
- GZ-19: Introduced in 1963 and discontinued in 1978 after the loss of Mayflower (N38A). The design for this class resembles the U.S. Navy's L class blimp.
- GZ-20: This class is what the current American fleet is composed of. Introduced in 1969, with the America (N10A) and Columbia (N3A) being the first two. This class is slightly longer than GZ-19. However, in 2013 Goodyear will be retiring the GZ-20 and replacing with the Zeppelin NTZeppelin NTThe Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen. The initial model is the NT07...
.
- GZ-22Loral GZ-22-References:NotesBibliography...
: The only airship in this class was the Spirit of AkronAkron, OhioAkron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
(N4A). Originally built in 1987 to show the U.S. Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
that airships were still militarily viable, it was the largest and most technically advanced ship Goodyear ever had in its public relations fleet, featuring fly-by-wire technology. However, Spirit was lost in 1999 and the company has not built one since, most likely because of the large expense to build and operate one due to its size and advanced technology.
- Zeppelin NT: Goodyear confirmed on May 3, 2011, that they will reinstate their long lost partnership with Zeppelin. Goodyear has ordered three Zeppelin NT LZ N07-101Zeppelin NTThe Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen. The initial model is the NT07...
models with plans to commence operation in January 2014. However, the Zeppelin NT will be the successor to the current GZ-20 in Goodyear airship advertising.
Historic Classes
- C class blimp/Type U 1918-1922
- C-5 (blimp)C-5 (blimp)- References :* "Blimp Loosed By Gale; The Navy Dirigible C-5, Blown to Sea from Newfoundland and Picked Up by British Ship." The New York Times. May 16, 1919. pp. 1...
1918-1919 - hydrogen variant of C class
- C-5 (blimp)
- D class blimp 1920-1924
- E class blimpE class blimp-See also:...
/Type FC 1918-1924 - F class blimpF class blimp-See also:...
/Type FB 1918-1923 - Goodyear Type ADGoodyear Type AD-References:NotesBibliography*...
1925-1931 - G class blimp 1935-19?
- H class blimpH class blimp-See also:...
1921-1923 - J class blimp 1922-1940
- K class blimpK class blimpThe K-class non-rigid airship was a class of blimps built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio for the United States Navy. These blimps were powered by two radial air-cooled engines mounted on outriggers on the side of the control car that hung under the envelope...
1938-1959- K-1 (airship)K-1 (airship)The K-1 was an experimental blimp designed by the United States Navy in 1929. Due to the inability to get Congressional approval for the construction of an airship the navy used the ploy of ordering a "universal" control car which could be used on the J-type airships from the Naval Aircraft...
1938-1940
- K-1 (airship)
- L class blimp 1930s-1945
- M class blimp 1944-1956
- N class blimp 1950s-1962
- USS Akron (ZRS-4)USS Akron (ZRS-4)USS Akron was a helium-filled rigid airship of the United States Navy that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crew and passengers on board...
1929-1933 - USS Macon (ZRS-5)USS Macon (ZRS-5)USS Macon was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Navy for scouting. She served as a "flying aircraft carrier", launching Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters. In service for less than two years, in 1935 Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast,...
1933-1935
- Goodyear DuckGoodyear Duck|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft . London: Orbis Publishing, 1985, pp. 1977–1978....
GA-1/GA-22 1944-? - Goodyear ZWGGoodyear ZWG-References:...
1950s - Goodyear Type FD 1919
- Goodyear Type TZ 1928-?
- Goodyear Type GZ-19 1963-1978
Dimensions
According to the Goodyear website, the three active GZ-20 blimps are 192 feet (58 meters) long, 59.5 feet (18 meters) tall, and 50 feet (15 meters) wide.For comparison, the largest airships ever built, the Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
company's Hindenburg, LZ-129, and the Graf Zeppelin II
LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin
The Graf Zeppelin II was the last of the great German rigid airships built by the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg...
, LZ-130, were 804 feet (245 meters) long and 135 feet (41 meters) in diameter. That is, over four times as long and over twice as wide as the current Goodyear blimps. The largest blimp ever made by Goodyear was the U.S. Navy's ZPG-3, at 403 feet (121 meters) in length.
Names
Since 1928, Goodyear had named its blimps after the U.S. winners of the America's CupAmerica's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
yacht race. This naming method is attributed to then-Goodyear CEO Paul W. Litchfield, who viewed the airships as being like yachts in the sky. Although that practice deviated with the introduction of the Spirit of Akron in 1987, the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-based Stars & Stripes would be the last to carry this honor, ending in 2005.
The America's Cup winners' names:
Puritan,
Reliance,
Defender,
Volunteer,
Resolute,
Vigilant,
Mayflower,
Ranger,
Rainbow,
Enterprise,
Columbia,
America,
Stars & Stripes.
Non-cup winners' names:
Pilgrim,
Neponset,
Spirit of Akron,
Spirit of Goodyear,
Eagle,
Spirit of America,
Spirit of Innovation.
Foreign based blimps have been operated by The Lightship Group since the 1990s:
Europa,
Spirit of Europe,
Spirit of the South Pacific,
Spirit of the Americas,
Spirit of Safety,
Ventura,
Ling Hang Zhe (Navigator).
Passenger policy
The GZ-20 blimps Goodyear operates in the U.S have seating for only six passengers. No seatbelts are required.The only passengers that Goodyear will allow on the blimps are corporate guests of the company and members of the press. No public rides are offered. This has been Goodyear's long-standing policy. However, for over 50 years, it had to offer limited public rides at its Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, winter base on Watson Island as part of its land-lease deal with the city in order to operate from the island. That practice ended in 1979 when the base was moved to Opa-Locka, Florida
Opa-locka, Florida
Opa-locka is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the mid decade census, the population was 15,376 as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau....
.
Sometimes Goodyear has a contest with its dealers of its tires. If a customer buys four new Goodyear tires, they are entered into a contest to go up in the blimp, the winner must go to the nearest blimp base to take their flight.
Night signs
For years, Goodyear has fitted its blimps with a night sign. From neon tubes, to incandescent lamps to LEDs, these signs have helped the company advertise its products and also deliver public service messages from various organizations such as local governments.- Neon-O-Gram Originally called NeonGoodyear, was first fitted on Defender back in the 1930s. Neon tubes on the sides of the blimp which usually just spelled out Goodyear.
- 10 Panel Incandescent Bulbs
- Skytacular: In the mid 1960s, the GZ-19 Mayflower (N4A) was fitted with over 3,000 incandescent lamps of red, yellow, blue and green on both sides that for the first time featured animation. Usually moving stick figures, ticker messages or colorful patterns. A small jet engine had to be attached to the blimp's car in order to power the Skytacular night sign.
- Super Skytacular: Same technology as Skytacular, but with more than 7,000 lamps on both sides. Super Skytacular was fitted on the new longer GZ-20 blimps in 1969.
- EagleVision
Accidents
- The Wingfoot Air Express, while transporting passengers from ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's Grant ParkGrant Park (Chicago)Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
to the White City Amusement ParkWhite City Amusement ParkFor other parks of the same name, see White City White City was a recreational area located in the Greater Grand Crossing and Woodlawn community areas on the south side of Chicago from 1905 until the 1950s...
, caught fire then crashed through the skylightWingfoot Air Express CrashThe Wingfoot Air Express was a dirigible that crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago on Monday July 21, 1919. The Type FD dirigible, owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was transporting people from Grant Park to the White City amusement park...
of the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank on July 21, 1919, killing one crewman, two passengers, and ten bank employees. - The Eagle, tail number N10A, suffered a deflationary incident in May of 1995, when the blimp struck the ground near the Carson, California, mooring site while unmanned. This blimp was repaired and rechristened as the Eagle N2A. No injuries were reported.
- The Spirit of Akron, tail number N4A, crashed on October 28, 1999, in Suffield, Ohio, when it suddenly entered an uncontrolled left turn and began descending. The pilot and technician on board received only minor injuries when the blimp impacted with trees. The NTSB report identified that improperly hardened metal splines on the control actuators sheared, causing loss of control.
- The Stars and Stripes, tail number N1A, crashed on June 16, 2005, in Coral Springs, FloridaCoral Springs, FloridaCoral Springs, officially chartered July 10, 1963, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 121,096...
, when it was caught in a strong thunderstormThunderstormA thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
that eventually pushed the aircraft into trees and powerlinePowerlinePowerline or power line may refer to:* Overhead power line, used for electric power transmission* Power line communication, a computer networking technology* Power Line, a political blog* Powerline, a fictional singer in the A Goofy Movie musical...
s. There were no injuries in the crash, although the pilot and passenger were trapped for a number of hours until the powerlines could be de-energized. The NTSB accident report claims the cause of the accident to be the pilot's "inadequate in-flight planning/decision which resulted in an in-flight encounter with weather (thunderstorm outflow), and downdrafts..." - The Spirit of Safety I, (built by American Blimp Corporation) registered as G-TLEL and owned and operated by Lightship Europe Limited, (but operating in Goodyear livery), caught fire while on landing approach to the Reichelsheim Airport (ICAO code EDFB) and crashed on June 12, 2011, near ReichelsheimReichelsheim (Wetterau)Reichelsheim is a town in the district Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 30 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main.- Division of the town :Reichelsheim consists of the 6 districts:* Beienheim * Blofeld...
, Hesse, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Three passengers were able to jump to safety shortly before the crash, but the pilot Michael Nerandzic died in the wreck.
Notable appearances in popular culture
In the 1971 film, Cold TurkeyCold Turkey (film)
Cold Turkey is a 1971 satirical comedy film. It stars Dick Van Dyke plus a long list of comedic actors, several of whom are well known to North American television audiences...
, which was actually filmed in 1969, a Goodyear blimp was used to announce that the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
would locate a missile factory in the fictional town of Eagle Rock, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
.
In 1976, Goodyear allowed use of its blimps for the filming of the film Black Sunday
Black Sunday (1977 film)
Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
based on the novel by Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris is an American author and screenwriter, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter...
, about a distressed former P.O.W. blimp pilot that helps Middle Eastern terrorists attack the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
with a lethal device attached to the airship's car. Two blimps were used for the conclusion. The base scenes were shot in Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
, using the Columbia. The Super Bowl scenes where shot in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, using the Mayflower, which was smaller than Columbia.
On October 23, 2011, the comic strip, Red and Rover
Red and Rover
Red and Rover or Red & Rover is a daily syndicated comic strip by Brian Basset that debuted in 2000. It is about a young boy and his dog....
, mentioned the Goodyear blimp by name. Red set an electric football
Electric football
Electric football is a tabletop American football game played on a metal vibrating field.-History:In 1947, Tudor Games created electric football, using a vibrating car race game made by Tudor as the base for the game technology. Electric football was an immediate hit...
game on the ground in his back yard, plugged in. In the last panel, Red & Rover both sat on a picnic table above the game and Red said, "This is my favorite part - piloting the Goodyear blimp!"