Goodyear Blimp Visits Spruce Creek

[Orval Fairbairn[_2_]]

We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's NASCAR
races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her about
1/2 hour.

Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA

There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
couple of years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related

[Dudley Henriques[_3_]]

On Feb 22, 12:05*am, Orval Fairbairn >
wrote:
> We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's NASCAR
> races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her about
> 1/2 hour.
>
> Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA
>
> There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
> couple of years ago:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related

Hi Orval;
Had a great and funny experience with the Blimp once. Don't know if
you've ever read this but I've pasted the story in below;



The following "aerobatic conference" on the Goodyear blimp took place
during
a break
in the preflight brief with the Blue Angels at Reading in 74, after we
all
watched
the thing fly past the office window and Jerry Tucker announced, "Hey
look,
ain't THAT a gas?"

It was decided by all present that some initial modifications should
be made
before aerobatics were attempted in this vehicle. First of all, Ps or
ability to convert energy had to be looked at seriously. We all agreed
that
in it's existing configuration, the blimp has the aerodynamic
properties of
a brontosaurus. Tony Less agreed with me that this might just be a bad
situation for akro, although both of us agreed that it's ok if you're
a
brontosaurus.
I suggested we use a belt that we could put around the blimp in the
middle;
sort of on a ratchet that could be tightened up by the crew inside the
gondola. The result would pinch it in at the middle so we could
utilize the
advantages of the area rule. This just might reduce some drag if we
could
only get the speed up a bit more. Getting the speed up was solved when
someone suggested that at the moment of takeoff, ground crew could run
around to the backside and poke the blimp with a fork right at the
exact
center between the fins.
Now the crew would have to be specially trained for aerobatics.
Vertical
maneuvers especially would require constant coordination by the crew.
In a
loop for instance, all crew would have to wear magnetic boots and
stand on
metal plates attached to the floor. As the blimp went inverted at the
top,
the Captain would have to shout the command,"NOW"...and all crew would
instantly extend their arms to hold the pillows in place on the sofa.
Something would have to be done about the roll rate. We all decided it
was
totally unacceptable. Air show time restraints really conflicted with
the 13
days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we could live
with
the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required to make the
following
announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the Goodyear blimp is now
beginning a
high speed pass over the field. Those of you at lunch at the cafateria
have
two hours to return to the flight line before the pass has been
completed...Thank you!"
The choice of maneuvers was unanimous. The routine should begin with
two
exciting and crowd pleasing "whale rolls". This would get the crowd
really
up and running. Then, a turn around,[while the Thunderbirds take off,
do
their show, and return] into the "poop loop". Finally, after lunch,
the loop
is completed, and about 3PM, we have the finale!!! The death defying
pull
into a left "bagover", followed by an "inverted hissout!!!"

After careful consideration by everyone present, we all decided to
keep this
to ourselves. There is only so much excitement an airshow crowd can
stand,
and we felt that this might give Goodyear an unfair advantage over the
Blues.
:-)

[Orval Fairbairn[_2_]]

In article
>,
Dudley Henriques > wrote:

> On Feb 22, 12:05*am, Orval Fairbairn >
> wrote:
> > We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's NASCAR
> > races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her about
> > 1/2 hour.
> >
> > Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the
> > videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA
> >
> > There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
> > couple of years ago:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related
>
> Hi Orval;
> Had a great and funny experience with the Blimp once. Don't know if
> you've ever read this but I've pasted the story in below;
>
>
>
> The following "aerobatic conference" on the Goodyear blimp took place
> during
> a break
> in the preflight brief with the Blue Angels at Reading in 74, after we
> all
> watched
> the thing fly past the office window and Jerry Tucker announced, "Hey
> look,
> ain't THAT a gas?"
>
> It was decided by all present that some initial modifications should
> be made
> before aerobatics were attempted in this vehicle. First of all, Ps or
> ability to convert energy had to be looked at seriously. We all agreed
> that
> in it's existing configuration, the blimp has the aerodynamic
> properties of
> a brontosaurus. Tony Less agreed with me that this might just be a bad
> situation for akro, although both of us agreed that it's ok if you're
> a
> brontosaurus.
> I suggested we use a belt that we could put around the blimp in the
> middle;
> sort of on a ratchet that could be tightened up by the crew inside the
> gondola. The result would pinch it in at the middle so we could
> utilize the
> advantages of the area rule. This just might reduce some drag if we
> could
> only get the speed up a bit more. Getting the speed up was solved when
> someone suggested that at the moment of takeoff, ground crew could run
> around to the backside and poke the blimp with a fork right at the
> exact
> center between the fins.
> Now the crew would have to be specially trained for aerobatics.
> Vertical
> maneuvers especially would require constant coordination by the crew.
> In a
> loop for instance, all crew would have to wear magnetic boots and
> stand on
> metal plates attached to the floor. As the blimp went inverted at the
> top,
> the Captain would have to shout the command,"NOW"...and all crew would
> instantly extend their arms to hold the pillows in place on the sofa.
> Something would have to be done about the roll rate. We all decided it
> was
> totally unacceptable. Air show time restraints really conflicted with
> the 13
> days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we could live
> with
> the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required to make the
> following
> announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the Goodyear blimp is now
> beginning a
> high speed pass over the field. Those of you at lunch at the cafateria
> have
> two hours to return to the flight line before the pass has been
> completed...Thank you!"
> The choice of maneuvers was unanimous. The routine should begin with
> two
> exciting and crowd pleasing "whale rolls". This would get the crowd
> really
> up and running. Then, a turn around,[while the Thunderbirds take off,
> do
> their show, and return] into the "poop loop". Finally, after lunch,
> the loop
> is completed, and about 3PM, we have the finale!!! The death defying
> pull
> into a left "bagover", followed by an "inverted hissout!!!"
>
> After careful consideration by everyone present, we all decided to
> keep this
> to ourselves. There is only so much excitement an airshow crowd can
> stand,
> and we felt that this might give Goodyear an unfair advantage over the
> Blues.
> :-)

That sounds about like an accurate assessment! I must say, however, that
all present (several hundred) appreciated the visit.

[John Clear]

In article >, Dudley Henriques > wrote:
>
> [...] Air show time restraints really conflicted with the
>13 days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we
>could live with the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required
>to make the following announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the
>Goodyear blimp is now beginning a high speed pass over the field.
>Those of you at lunch at the cafateria have two hours to return to
>the flight line before the pass has been completed...Thank you!"

I was in the pattern at Livermore one day doing some touch and goes
when the Goodyear Blimp called in over the Altamont Pass (~10mi
out) for the ILS 25R. Tower asked for their ETA, which was 30
minutes. They were hoping to make Salinas before sunset and it
was around noon on a summer day.

Another time I was flying the SF bay tour and the Metlife Blimp
and Airship Ventures Zeppelin were both over the bay. As all three
of us made loops around the bay, approach kept calling them out to
me as traffic, but since neither airship was talking to approach,
ATC kept thinking they were helicopters. ATC: "Traffic alert, 12
o'clock and 2 miles, same altitude, moving pretty slow, probably
a helicopter." Me: "Roger, we have the blimp in sight."

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

[george]

On Feb 22, 6:47*pm, Dudley Henriques >
wrote:
> On Feb 22, 12:05*am, Orval Fairbairn >
> wrote:
>
> > We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's NASCAR
> > races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her about
> > 1/2 hour.
>
> > Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA
>
> > There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
> > couple of years ago:
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related
>
> Hi Orval;
> Had a great and funny experience with the Blimp once. Don't know if
> you've ever read this but I've pasted the story in below;
>
> The following "aerobatic conference" on the Goodyear blimp took place
> during
> a break
> in the preflight brief with the Blue Angels at Reading in 74, after we
> all
> watched
> the thing fly past the office window and Jerry Tucker announced, "Hey
> look,
> ain't THAT a gas?"
>
> It was decided by all present that some initial modifications should
> be made
> before aerobatics were attempted in this vehicle. First of all, Ps or
> ability to convert energy had to be looked at seriously. We all agreed
> that
> in it's existing configuration, the blimp has the aerodynamic
> properties of
> a brontosaurus. Tony Less agreed with me that this might just be a bad
> situation for akro, although both of us agreed that it's ok if you're
> a
> brontosaurus.
> I suggested we use a belt that we could put around the blimp in the
> middle;
> sort of on a ratchet that could be tightened up by the crew inside the
> gondola. The result would pinch it in at the middle so we could
> utilize the
> advantages of the area rule. This just might reduce some drag if we
> could
> only get the speed up a bit more. Getting the speed up was solved when
> someone suggested that at the moment of takeoff, ground crew could run
> around to the backside and poke the blimp with a fork right at the
> exact
> center between the fins.
> Now the crew would have to be specially trained for aerobatics.
> Vertical
> maneuvers especially would require constant coordination by the crew.
> In a
> loop for instance, all crew would have to wear magnetic boots and
> stand on
> metal plates attached to the floor. As the blimp went inverted at the
> top,
> the Captain would have to shout the command,"NOW"...and all crew would
> instantly extend their arms to hold the pillows in place on the sofa.
> Something would have to be done about the roll rate. We all decided it
> was
> totally unacceptable. Air show time restraints really conflicted with
> the 13
> days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we could live
> with
> the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required to make the
> following
> announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the Goodyear blimp is now
> beginning a
> high speed pass over the field. Those of you at lunch at the cafateria
> have
> two hours to return to the flight line before the pass has been
> completed...Thank you!"
> The choice of maneuvers was unanimous. The routine should begin with
> two
> exciting and crowd pleasing "whale rolls". This would get the crowd
> really
> up and running. Then, a turn around,[while the Thunderbirds take off,
> do
> their show, and return] into the "poop loop". Finally, after lunch,
> the loop
> is completed, and about 3PM, we have the finale!!! The death defying
> pull
> into a left "bagover", followed by an "inverted hissout!!!"
>
> After careful consideration by everyone present, we all decided to
> keep this
> to ourselves. There is only so much excitement an airshow crowd can
> stand,
> and we felt that this might give Goodyear an unfair advantage over the
> Blues.
> :-)

That's a keeper :-)

[Dudley Henriques[_3_]]

On Feb 22, 10:50*am, Orval Fairbairn >
wrote:
> In article
> >,
> *Dudley Henriques > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Feb 22, 12:05 am, Orval Fairbairn >
> > wrote:
> > > We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's NASCAR
> > > races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her about
> > > 1/2 hour.
>
> > > Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the
> > > videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA
>
> > > There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
> > > couple of years ago:
>
> > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related
>
> > Hi Orval;
> > Had a great and funny experience with the Blimp once. Don't know if
> > you've ever read this but I've pasted the story in below;
>
> > The following "aerobatic conference" on the Goodyear blimp took place
> > during
> > a break
> > in the preflight brief with the Blue Angels at Reading in 74, after we
> > all
> > watched
> > the thing fly past the office window and Jerry Tucker announced, "Hey
> > look,
> > ain't THAT a gas?"
>
> > It was decided by all present that some initial modifications should
> > be made
> > before aerobatics were attempted in this vehicle. First of all, Ps or
> > ability to convert energy had to be looked at seriously. We all agreed
> > that
> > in it's existing configuration, the blimp has the aerodynamic
> > properties of
> > a brontosaurus. Tony Less agreed with me that this might just be a bad
> > situation for akro, although both of us agreed that it's ok if you're
> > a
> > brontosaurus.
> > I suggested we use a belt that we could put around the blimp in the
> > middle;
> > sort of on a ratchet that could be tightened up by the crew inside the
> > gondola. The result would pinch it in at the middle so we could
> > utilize the
> > advantages of the area rule. This just might reduce some drag if we
> > could
> > only get the speed up a bit more. Getting the speed up was solved when
> > someone suggested that at the moment of takeoff, ground crew could run
> > around to the backside and poke the blimp with a fork right at the
> > exact
> > center between the fins.
> > Now the crew would have to be specially trained for aerobatics.
> > Vertical
> > maneuvers especially would require constant coordination by the crew.
> > In a
> > loop for instance, all crew would have to wear magnetic boots and
> > stand on
> > metal plates attached to the floor. As the blimp went inverted at the
> > top,
> > the Captain would have to shout the command,"NOW"...and all crew would
> > instantly extend their arms to hold the pillows in place on the sofa.
> > Something would have to be done about the roll rate. We all decided it
> > was
> > totally unacceptable. Air show time restraints really conflicted with
> > the 13
> > days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we could live
> > with
> > the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required to make the
> > following
> > announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the Goodyear blimp is now
> > beginning a
> > high speed pass over the field. Those of you at lunch at the cafateria
> > have
> > two hours to return to the flight line before the pass has been
> > completed...Thank you!"
> > The choice of maneuvers was unanimous. The routine should begin with
> > two
> > exciting and crowd pleasing "whale rolls". This would get the crowd
> > really
> > up and running. Then, a turn around,[while the Thunderbirds take off,
> > do
> > their show, and return] into the "poop loop". Finally, after lunch,
> > the loop
> > is completed, and about 3PM, we have the finale!!! The death defying
> > pull
> > into a left "bagover", followed by an "inverted hissout!!!"
>
> > After careful consideration by everyone present, we all decided to
> > keep this
> > to ourselves. There is only so much excitement an airshow crowd can
> > stand,
> > and we felt that this might give Goodyear an unfair advantage over the
> > Blues.
> > :-)
>
> That sounds about like an accurate assessment! I must say, however, that
> all present (several hundred) appreciated the visit.

As did we at Reading. It's a fascinating vehicle for sure and a lot of
fun watching it. Handling it takes a lot of skill. We had the chance
to sit down with the Goodyear guys and exchange a round or two that
year and all of us left with a healthy respect for their mission and
their skill in accomplishing a difficult schedule with weather
involved.
D

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Dudley Henriques" > wrote in message
...
> On Feb 22, 10:50 am, Orval Fairbairn >
> wrote:
>> In article
>> >,
>> Dudley Henriques > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Feb 22, 12:05 am, Orval Fairbairn >
>> > wrote:
>> > > We had a very important visitor at Spruce Creek after Saturday's
>> > > NASCAR
>> > > races: the Goodyear Blimp! We all had a good time -- they were her
>> > > about
>> > > 1/2 hour.
>>
>> > > Some of the guys arranged an escort for it and are shown in the
>> > > videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2x1EaXqDsA
>>
>> > > There are also some other videos from German TV when they visited a
>> > > couple of years ago:
>>
>> > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6T1uv5BRw&feature=related
>>
>> > Hi Orval;
>> > Had a great and funny experience with the Blimp once. Don't know if
>> > you've ever read this but I've pasted the story in below;
>>
>> > The following "aerobatic conference" on the Goodyear blimp took place
>> > during
>> > a break
>> > in the preflight brief with the Blue Angels at Reading in 74, after we
>> > all
>> > watched
>> > the thing fly past the office window and Jerry Tucker announced, "Hey
>> > look,
>> > ain't THAT a gas?"
>>
>> > It was decided by all present that some initial modifications should
>> > be made
>> > before aerobatics were attempted in this vehicle. First of all, Ps or
>> > ability to convert energy had to be looked at seriously. We all agreed
>> > that
>> > in it's existing configuration, the blimp has the aerodynamic
>> > properties of
>> > a brontosaurus. Tony Less agreed with me that this might just be a bad
>> > situation for akro, although both of us agreed that it's ok if you're
>> > a
>> > brontosaurus.
>> > I suggested we use a belt that we could put around the blimp in the
>> > middle;
>> > sort of on a ratchet that could be tightened up by the crew inside the
>> > gondola. The result would pinch it in at the middle so we could
>> > utilize the
>> > advantages of the area rule. This just might reduce some drag if we
>> > could
>> > only get the speed up a bit more. Getting the speed up was solved when
>> > someone suggested that at the moment of takeoff, ground crew could run
>> > around to the backside and poke the blimp with a fork right at the
>> > exact
>> > center between the fins.
>> > Now the crew would have to be specially trained for aerobatics.
>> > Vertical
>> > maneuvers especially would require constant coordination by the crew.
>> > In a
>> > loop for instance, all crew would have to wear magnetic boots and
>> > stand on
>> > metal plates attached to the floor. As the blimp went inverted at the
>> > top,
>> > the Captain would have to shout the command,"NOW"...and all crew would
>> > instantly extend their arms to hold the pillows in place on the sofa.
>> > Something would have to be done about the roll rate. We all decided it
>> > was
>> > totally unacceptable. Air show time restraints really conflicted with
>> > the 13
>> > days required to do a slow roll, although we all thought we could live
>> > with
>> > the high speed pass, IF the announcer was required to make the
>> > following
>> > announcement."Ladies and gentlemen, the Goodyear blimp is now
>> > beginning a
>> > high speed pass over the field. Those of you at lunch at the cafateria
>> > have
>> > two hours to return to the flight line before the pass has been
>> > completed...Thank you!"
>> > The choice of maneuvers was unanimous. The routine should begin with
>> > two
>> > exciting and crowd pleasing "whale rolls". This would get the crowd
>> > really
>> > up and running. Then, a turn around,[while the Thunderbirds take off,
>> > do
>> > their show, and return] into the "poop loop". Finally, after lunch,
>> > the loop
>> > is completed, and about 3PM, we have the finale!!! The death defying
>> > pull
>> > into a left "bagover", followed by an "inverted hissout!!!"
>>
>> > After careful consideration by everyone present, we all decided to
>> > keep this
>> > to ourselves. There is only so much excitement an airshow crowd can
>> > stand,
>> > and we felt that this might give Goodyear an unfair advantage over the
>> > Blues.
>> > :-)
>>
>> That sounds about like an accurate assessment! I must say, however, that
>> all present (several hundred) appreciated the visit.
>
> As did we at Reading. It's a fascinating vehicle for sure and a lot of
> fun watching it. Handling it takes a lot of skill. We had the chance
> to sit down with the Goodyear guys and exchange a round or two that
> year and all of us left with a healthy respect for their mission and
> their skill in accomplishing a difficult schedule with weather
> involved.
> D

Somewhere back around 78, the blimp was at an Ohio State/Michigan game, in
Columbus. It was almost always at this final game of the regular season,
and it is one of football's biggest rivalries.

The wind was blowing strong out of the North that day. Before the game, I
thought there was no way the blimp would be up. They came over, to my
surprise.

They would make a pass into the wind, barely with any groundspeed. It would
take 15 minutes to get far enough North to make a turn for another lap.
Once they made the turn, they would be downwind and making the turn to go
back North in just a minute or two. It was amusing to watch.

The wind got stronger and stronger, and while watching the game, I suddenly
heard the engines of the blimp rev up to what must have qualified as "war
emergency power." I looked over to see the blimp at less than 500 feet,
pitched down nearly 45 degrees, fighting to get the nose back up. They
finally managed, and went up then down a couple times and finally got it
dampened out and gained some altitude.

That was the last we saw of them that day. I theorized that they had to
clean out their drawers, or extract the seat cushions from their hind ends!
<g>
--
Jim in NC