The Goodyear Blimp is any one of a fleet of airships (or dirigibles) operated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, used mainly for advertising purposes and capturing aerial views of live sporting events for television. The term blimp itself is defined as a —without any internal structure, the pressure of lifting gas within the airship envelope maintains the vessel's shape.
From the launch of the Pilgrim in 1925 to the retiring of the Spirit of Innovation in 2017, Goodyear generally owned and operated non-rigid airships in its global public relations fleet. In 2014, Goodyear began to replace its three U.S. non-rigid airships (blimps) with three new semi-rigid airships, each of which have a rigid internal frame. Although technically incorrect, Goodyear continues to use "blimp" in reference to these new semi-rigid airships. Wingfoot One, the first such model in Goodyear's U.S. fleet, was christened on August 23, 2014, at the Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar, near the company's headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
Airship fleet
In May 2011, Goodyear announced it was replacing its fleet of non-rigid airships with three semi-rigid airships built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
Goodyear's U.S. fleet consists of three semi-rigid airships (model LZ N07-101):
Wingfoot One (N1A), based in Pompano Beach Airpark in Pompano Beach, Florida
Wingfoot Two (N2A), based in Goodyear Blimp Base Airport in Carson, California
Wingfoot Three (N3A), based in Wingfoot Lake Airship Operations Balloonport in Suffield, Ohio
The new airships are long, longer than Goodyear's old model, the GZ-20. The Zeppelin NT model is also slimmer, has a top speed of (versus for the blimp), and has a passenger gondola that seats 12 (compared to seven in the blimp). The gondola also contains a restroom. Both craft are outfitted with LED sign technology Goodyear calls "Eaglevision". This allows the aircraft to display bright, multi-colored, animated words and images.
Goodyear has also leased blimps operating in other parts of the world. These airships were built and operated by The Lightship Group of Orlando, Florida. In 2012, The Lightship Group was acquired (along with the American Blimp Corporation) by Van Wagner Communications LLC, and operated as the Van Wagner Airship Group until November 17, 2017, when it was purchased by Airsign Inc. They currently operate an airship for Goodyear in China.
Lifting agent
The Goodyear blimps are inflated with helium. The helium is maintained under low pressure, so small punctures do not pose serious consequences for the blimp. One inspection element of the blimps is to look into the envelope for pinpoints of light which are indicative of small holes.
Prior to the Zeppelin NT, the Goodyear blimps were non-rigid (meaning their shape is not maintained by a rigid internal structure) dirigibles (directable/steerable airships). Inside their exterior envelope, the blimps are fitted with air-filled ballonets. As the blimp ascends or descends, the internal ballonets expand or contract to compensate for density changes and to maintain uniform pressure in the envelope. The latest Goodyear airship, the Zeppelin NT, is a departure from this convention, as it is a semi-rigid airship that makes use of a truss inside the envelope to provide some of its strength.
Models
"GZ" stands for Goodyear–Zeppelin, stemming from the partnership Goodyear had with the German company when both were building airships together. However, these models came many years after this partnership had dissolved during the start of World War II. The GZ-1 was the USS Akron (ZRS-4), the U.S. Navy's fourth rigid airship used for several tests including as a flying "aircraft carrier".