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  • Goodyear to Replace their Fleet of Three Blimps.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio will be getting new, larger and faster blimps to replace three U.S. airships with three new airships designed by the German manufacturer ZLT Zeppelin Luftschriftechnik beginning in 2013.

Goodyear presently operates a fleet of three blimps, one each based in Akron, Pompano Beach, Florida and Carson, California. I have photographed the Akron-based blimp at EAA AirVenture, Wittman Regional OSH and the Carson-based blimp at Camarillo Airport CMA. These photos are uploaded here.

The new airships will be constructed by Zeppelin and Goodyear workers at Goodyear's airship hangar at Akron, with the first expected to fly in 2014.

The cost of each will be about $21 million which will include ongoing technical support from Zeppelin. The new airships will be longer-246 feet vs. 192 feet; fly faster-73 mph vs. 54 mph and have more seating-13 vs. seven including the pilot. State of the art flight controls and avionics will be provided.

Zeppelin has been making airships since 1900 and Goodyear since 1919. Goodyear's blimps have been effective advertising of the company at large events such as the Annual Rose Bowl Tournament, EAA AirVenture and other large gatherings of American people.

So this is the end of the Goodyear "Blimps", I am assuming these are the semi-rigid airships.

It will be fun to see more Zeppelins floating around.

Zane,

ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GMBH builds Helium Semi-rigid Airships. I believe the present Goodyear blimps to be replaced are of similar, but not same classification.

ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GMBH was formed as subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GMBH in 1993 to develop new technology NT airships, combining vectored thrust and new construction approaches for best flying quality solution. I am looking forward to seeing the new Goodyear ships, expecting same basing locations.

You might look at www.zeppelin-nt.com

Doug,

Yeah I have been watching the Zeppelin company with fascination for many years. I sure wanted to run down to Beaumont, TX when the California Zeppelin was delivered there a couple of years ago.

Thanks

Zane

Zane,

The three new airships for Goodyear will be the LZ N07-101 model of Zeppelin NT, each powered by three Lycoming IO-360s with vectored thrust capability.

12 days later

The new Goodyear airships to be built are rigid-structure airships, or technically Zeppelins, but Goodyear will still call them blimps, despite having rigid skeletons of aluminum and carbon fiber. The three vectored-thrust engines will be mounted on the fuselage body above and behind the gondola, with pusher props rather than the present tractor props. This will provide a far quieter flight experience for passengers in the larger gondola.

Goodyear built over 150 blimps for the U.S. Navy in WWII. The present West-Coast based blimp at Carson, CA, the "Spirit of America" is maintained in the two former Navy blimp hangars at the decommissioned Naval Air Facility Santa Ana where I was stationed for a two week class on the APS-20 RADAR in the 1950s at the Airborne Electronic Training Division. I also did some periodic work there in the late 1960s with the then based-U.S. Marine Corps HMH helicopter squadrons while employed at the Naval Missile Center, Point Mugu, CA.

The new Goodyear airships will also be filled with helium as are the present Goodyear blimps, which is a non-flammable gas lighter than air. Goodyear has been operating out of Carson, CA with blimps since 1968 with no major accidents.

The Goodyear blimps are so popular with the public that the company has a blimp Facebook page. Other companies have copied Goodyear's success with advertising via blimps. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and Fujifilm Holdings Corp. to name just two-also fly blimps advertising their products.

Goodyear will still call them blimps because the PR campaign to convince the public to call them anything else would never be successful because people are .... well .. I'll be nice.....uneducated.

:

Plus the word Zeppelin conjures up a negative image that comes from the 1930's Nazi image and the Hindenburg disaster...which is why Goodyear also feels that it is necessary to include in the press release that they will be using Helium instead of Hydrogen as a lifting gas.

BTW Hydrogen has not been used for airship operations since the 1930's...because of safety concerns...despite it's superior lifting ability.

(editorial comment follows) People will continue to be uneducated about such things as long as this kind of dumbing down of the information continues. Goodyear should call them Zeppelins....it might catch on after 80 years...

Zane

No disagreement whatsoever, Zane. Thanks for the addenda. You are absolutely correct in your assessment.

2 years later

Construction has begun on Goodyear's first new blimp at their Wingfoot Lake Hangar near Akron, Ohio to be assembled by Germany's ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik. The new Zeppelin LZ N07-101 airships will replace Goodyear's fleet of three advertising blimps. Construction will take about 7 months for the first new airship, followed by certification by the FAA and pilot training during the first half of 2014. Look for these huge new airships operated by Goodyear later in 2014 and beyond.

Incidentally, when I was detailed to NAVAIR headquartered then in Arlington, VA back in 1992, I went out alone to an early dinner at an Alexandria, VA restaurant. A fellow diner a couple tables away introduced himself as so few occupied the room. He flew a Goodyear blimp for a living and we chatted about our respective flying careers. I wonder whether he is retired as I (in January 1995) or still flying blimps with Goodyear.

a year later

Goodyear's first flown newest technology blimp was christened last week by breaking a bottle against the ship's gondola at Goodyear's Wingfoot Lake Hangar in Suffield, Ohio. Audience was more than 2,000 people. Goodyear had conducted a naming contest with nearly 15,000 entries in an online voting contest. Wingfoot One (DUH!) won the contest for the new name. An Akron, Ohio lady contest winner will receive a day's activities aboard Wingfoot One as her prize.

The ZLT Zeppelin Luftschrifftechnik airship was assembled by a team of Zeppelin and Goodyear engineers, and represents the first major change of a Goodyear airship in nearly 70 years. Goodyear has built over 300 airships. Wingfoot One has vectored thrust enabling hovering in flight, faster speeds and advanced on-board avionics with sweeping, panoramic viewing experience. Two more will be assembled over the next four years, replacing its two remaining GZ-20 models based in Pompano Beach, FL and Carson, CA. The new airship will be seen over a number of sports events this year giving aerial broadcast coverage, including the Kentucky Derby and Daytona 500.