It?s been as much a part of American motorsports as Richard Petty or the small-block Chevy V8. It?s the Goodyear blimp, circling up there a couple of thousand feet above the racetracks (and above other sports venues), providing an aerial platform for a television camera so we can get a bird?s-eye perspective of the action.
Actually, Goodyear has three blimps in this country (and another based in China). Ours are the Spirit of Innovation, based in Florida; the Spirit of Goodyear, based near Goodyear?s headquarters in Akron, Ohio; and the Spirit of America, based near Los Angeles.
Goodyear was the blimp pioneer in this country. Its first blimp was the Pilgrim, launched in 1925. A Goodyear blimp flew over the 1932 Olympic Games at Los Angeles. Goodyear blimps served as overhead surveillance platforms for the U.S. Navy in World War II. A Goodyear blimp first carried a TV camera above a sporting event at the Orange Bowl football game in 1960.
Why, you may ask, use the blimp instead of a handy helicopter? For one thing, a helicopter can stay aloft only 2 �-3 hours before it needs a pit stop, but the blimp carries 30 hours of fuel.
Speaking of pit stops, while a single pilot can fly a blimp, it takes a large ground crew to wrangle such an airship so it can land or take off. I got to see this first-hand recently when Goodyear invited me to take a 50-minute flight in the Spirit of America while it was in Phoenix during a NASCAR racing weekend.
As the pilot maneuvers the blimp near the ground, the 20-some person ground crew rushes over and grabs mooring lines to hold it into position. It really doesn?t ?land,? but is held in a hovering position while two members of the ground crew attach a ladder so passengers and pilots can enter or exit.
Our pilot, Capt. Kristen Davis, sat at controls that are sort of a cross between those in an airplane and those on a large boat, and Capt. Davis explained that ?flying? the blimp has a lot in common with piloting a large boat on an ocean of air.
As in a helicopter, however, you almost don?t have the sense of flying; you feel more like you?re sitting almost still and the land below simply retreats beneath you.
I?d been invited aboard a Goodyear blimp once before, several years ago at Daytona Beach, but the flight was canceled because of a storm. Even in sunny weather, Capt. Davis explained, the blimp remains grounded when winds exceed 25 miles per hour.
The Spirit of America seats seven, and, yes, we were told, we were free to move about the cabin. In fact, Capt. Davis encouraged us rotate from time to time so each of us could have an opportunity to sit up front to take in the view out the windshield.
It was quite a view!
Read more from Larry Edsall at iZoom
Photo Credit: Gary Brown
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