[[email protected]]

Imagine if you lifted the rear doors on a group of 18-wheelers and found that one was carrying a single six-pack of beer. Another, one bag of tortilla chips, and yet another, a single flat-screen TV. That's the level of efficiency that I'm dealing with today, as I climb a little yellow ladder into this Goodyear blimp's cabin, which holds the same six passengers as a Mazda 5. Six passengers in a vehicle that weighs 12,840 pounds, measures 192 feet in length, and moves at a maximum speed of 50 mph. And you thought a Hummer H2 seemed silly...
FULL STORY...

 

[Numbersix]

Re: Ulterior Motive: Big Blimpin in The Spirit of Goodyear ([email protected])

Awesome story, Stu. What fun!

 

[CP2]

FV-QR

I have to agree - sounds like a great ride. Stretching it on being car-related, but it's certainly Motive. I've had a fascination with airships my entire life...

 

[CosmicTDI]

Re: FV-QR (CP2)

You may want to proof read your caption on the right a little more closely...

 

[Viss1]

Re: FV-QR

I might have missed this, but how old is the ship that was "tested?"

 

[atomicalex]

Re: FV-QR (Viss1)

Did you check out the World of Rubber while in Akron? One of my dad's tyres is in there.

 

[[email protected]]

Re: FV-QR (Viss1)

Quote, originally posted by Viss1 »

I might have missed this, but how old is the ship that was "tested?"

Don't know--they're rebuilt every 10-15 years. They talked about how this one was just repainted (yes, that's all paint on the envelope--6000 lbs of it) so I'm guessing it is a ways into its life cycle.

 

[nm+]

Great article

 

[AZGolf]

Re: Ulterior Motive: Big Blimpin in The Spirit of Goodyear ([email protected])

Wait - no gallery?

 

[98JettaGT]

Re: Ulterior Motive: Big Blimpin in The Spirit of Goodyear (AZGolf)

I've always loved blimps since I was a kid. I remember the Goodyear blimp flying over our house in California in the early evening, displaying changing patterns of lights on it's belly.

 

[Binary_Finary]

Re: Ulterior Motive: Big Blimpin in The Spirit of Goodyear (98JettaGT)

Very Cool http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Pushrods]

Re: Ulterior Motive: Big Blimpin in The Spirit of Goodyear ([email protected])

Quote, originally posted by [email protected] »

"We used to have FAA clearance to fly at any altitude we deemed safe. Goodyear has a flawless flight record and they just trusted us."

Uh, that's definitely not true. The last fatalities were in 1919, but the Spirit of Akron (the only GZ-22 Goodyear has built - N4A) crashed at Wingfoot in October 1999. I was at Kent State at the time - my dorm neighbor worked at Wingfoot park and had a part of the outer skin on his wall. Also, Stars and Stripes (N1A) crashed in 2005.
The blimp you flew on, the Spirit of Goodyear, is a GZ-20 that was built with spares and parts of Spirit of Akron.