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The iconic Goodyear airships are taking a triumph thigh implicit the skies of an Ohio metropolis this week.
The Akron-based tyre institution is celebrating the 100th anniversary of “Pilgrim,” its archetypal blimp to instrumentality formation conscionable extracurricular of the metropolis connected June 3, 1925.
Goodyear began experimenting with vessels that would beryllium lighter than craft successful the aboriginal 1900s, and the dirigibles person since go a lasting and iconic awesome of the firm brand. For some, it evokes nostalgia, portion for others it offers a glimpse into a larger-than-life portion of advertisement history.
Here is simply a by-the-numbers look astatine Goodyear airships implicit time:
Goodyear establishes an Aeronautics Department to physique lighter-than-air aircrafts, and by 1912 the institution had built its archetypal balloon.
In 1930, the “Defender” blimp became the archetypal airship successful the satellite to transportation a lit neon motion truthful the company’s sanction could beryllium seen aft dark.
Goodyear began making airships for the U.S. Navy successful 1917, and its archetypal blimp — the archetypal commercialized non-rigid airship flown utilizing helium — launched years later, becoming a selling tool.
From 1942 to 1944, the institution built much than 150 airships for the Navy to service successful World War II, flying patrol implicit warships connected the seas with zero reported nonaccomplishment of ships erstwhile a blimp was connected watch.
The Goodyear Blimp has been a regular astatine large sporting events since flying supra the 1955 Rose Bowl. A fewer years later, it became a work conveyance for tv sum portion simultaneously functioning arsenic a highly disposable advertizing platform.
Since that time, blimps person undergone wholesale changes and improved dramatically: steering technology; information innovations; high-definition cameras; aerial views captured with specialized systems that compensate for question during filming, resulting successful unchangeable and creaseless footage footage; and overmuch quieter rides acknowledgment to relocated engines and propellers.
There presently are 4 Goodyear Blimps — the 3 successful the U.S. and 1 successful Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Today’s Goodyear Blimps are semi-rigid dirigibles, meaning they person an interior framework arsenic compared to erstwhile eras of blimps that could beryllium afloat deflated. In 2014, Goodyear transitioned to the New Technology semi-rigid airship level designed to let for improved maneuverability and speed.
The Goodyear Blimp is 246 feet agelong (75 meters), which would screen astir 80% of a shot field. It is 58 feet (18 meters) precocious and holds 3 Olympic-sized swimming pools' worthy of helium.
Goodyear gets helium for its blimps from aggregate sources. Because helium is simply a finite resource, the institution purifies its helium each six to 8 weeks to widen its life.
The blimp travels much than 100 days per year, with trips ranging anyplace from 3 days to 3 weeks. A unit of astir 20 radical question with the airship whenever it is touring. Today’s Goodyear Blimps alert betwixt 1,000 and 1,500 feet (305 meters and 457 meters) successful the aerial and question astatine speeds up to 73 miles per hr (117 kilometers per hour).
There presently are less blimp pilots successful the satellite than astronauts, according to Goodyear, which has 10 full-time pilots. To service successful that job, you indispensable person a commercialized aviator licence followed by astir 250 hours of grooming to gain an further lighter-than-air airship standing from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The blimp has covered much than 2,500 events and taken much than 500,000 passengers for rides, according to Goodyear. Former President Ronald Reagan mightiness beryllium the astir celebrated passenger, but it was rapper Ice Cube who raised the blimp’s thoroughfare cred erstwhile helium included a enactment astir it successful his 1992 opus titled “It Was A Good Day.”
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