Up, Up and Away in the Goodyear Blimp!

Courtesy of the good folks at Mazda and Goodyear (title sponsor of the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear), I had the good fortune of being invited to go for a ride today on the Goodyear Blimp–specifically, the Spirit of America airship based in Carson, California. What a treat for all of us aboard, which included my wife Patty and Connor De Phillippi, a 17-year-old Mazdaspeed ladder driver who was Rookie of the Year in the 2010 Star Mazda series and had the week off from high school. At the helm: Goodyear pilot Nathan Brooks, a former Army Blackhawk pilot who delighted us with stories and other info about the blimp as we headed over to the coast at 1500 ft. to check out Rancho Palos Verdes and the South Bay from above.

Some interesting tidbits shared by Brooks: The blimp, which weighs nearly 13,000 lb. when not filled with helium, cruises at about 25 mph, but has a maximum speed of about 50 mph, depending on the wind. And speaking of wind, Goodyear won't let the blimp operate in gusts over 25 mph, because Brooks says it would be unable to make it back to the base on just one engine in those conditions. As for engines, the Goodyear Blimp has a pair of 210-bhp 6-cylinder Continentals flanking the 7-seat unpressurized gondola, which has no seatbelts but does have windows that slide open and provide a glorious view of the LA basin.

The skin of the 192-ft. blimp, what Brooks calls its envelope, is made of two-ply polyester impregnated with neoprene. It's a thin cloth, thinner than that used most clothing, but it does a good job of holding in the helium, an inert (but expensive, says Brooks) gas that makes the blimp lighter than air. Typical pressure on the envelope is quite low, between 1.25 and 1.5 inches of H20 (around 0.05 psi), which seems to me like barely enough for the blimp to maintain its shape. Within the blimp there are two air chambers, or ballonets, in front and back, which are used to help maintain a constant pressure on the envelope. When the ship is launched, the pilot uses the elevator wheel, rudder and engine throttle to gain altitude. As the ship goes up at a steep angle, atmospheric pressure decreases and the helium expands, which requires the pilot to release air from the front and rear ballonets through the air valves. This is done via pull knobs just above Brooks, which operate cables that control flap valves. Scoops aft of the engines allow Brooks to force air into the envelope as the helium contracts.

It's fun to watch Brooks monitor the gauges and make adjustments while steering the craft by operating rudder pedals. He also has an elevator wheel at his right hand, which he rotates forward to begin a descent after our afternoon spent sightseeing. To aid the descent, he "loads" air into the blimp's nose to bring it down. Then, as atmospheric pressure increases and the helium contracts, the air ballonets automatically inflate to maintain a constant pressure within the envelope. Watching Brooks guide the craft down with the throttle, rudder and elevator, to the point where the 16-member Goodyear ground crew catches and secures the mooring lines dangling off the nose, is to see a pro at work. "It's kind of like a really long pit stop," joked De Phillippi, who is used to a speedier (but no more precise) crew.

One last fun detail: The lone Goodyear tire on the single-wheel landing gear has to have perfectly smooth tread, with no grooves capable of picking up any debris. "God forbid that we're up over a NASCAR race and we drop a rock onto the track," said Brooks, who has never had a bird strike in his career aloft. He has, however, been hit by a laser pointer from the ground, a serious offense that temporarily messed up his depth perception. On a more positive note, he's seen pods of dolphins and blue whales in the ocean near Palos Verdes, and he could even see that trade had picked up in the Los Angeles Harbor (based on ship traffic) long before it was announced in the news.

Other blimps have come and gone, but the Goodyear Blimp, which has been around since the Pilgrim of 1925, remains the preeminent one, the most recognizable marketing tool in the air. For more information, visit www.goodyearblimp.com. Also see http://www.starmazda.com/results/2011-schedule.htm and http://www.connordephillippi.com/.

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