HOLY Sh**&& Mary, come and look!!!!!

[Ty Marcucci]

 

[Doug Moon]

That is cool!!! I have seen it or one like it once over Dallas years ago for an event and it was a cool sight to see.

[EddyR]

I live eight miles south east of the Charlotte Motor Speedway and we are under the turn around point for Blimps that do the photo work for the races. We are in a very low flight zone so it is safe for blimps to sit here and set up photo runs. The MetLife, Direct ,Goodyear and others are seen here at least four times a year. Most of these use turbo propeller motors at about 200-230HP. There are a lot of event around Charlotte and the big banks also bring in the blimps for in house events. Golf and cars racing are the big events.
Ed

[john e. holliday]

Here in KC it not unusual to see the blimp flying around during a football game or the races at the speedway.   Usually is moored at the downtown airport when it is in town.   Also if wind is very high it does not fly.

[Steven Kientz]

I grew up 10 miles west of Speedway, Indiana. During 3rd grade(1971?) one of the  Goodyear Blimps had some kind of problem and landed in a field next to the school. Needless to say the teachers couldn't keep us inside after that.

[Phil Krankowski]

The last time I saw a Goodyear blimp was over a decade ago. I was working in Cleveland and there they were!  4 blimps!  Doing precision flying! 

It was beautiful!

and slightly boring...almost an hour for each set of maneuvers.

Seeing blimps in formation was pretty awesome though.

Phil

[Dan McEntee]

   I had the extreme good fortune to have gotten a ride on the Budweiser Blimp several years back thanks to my good friend Todd Lee who was working as a member of the flight crew right after he graduated after Embry-Riddle. He called me one evening to let me know they were passing through town on the way to do the MLB All Star game in Denver that year. The whole story is too long to type but I may have told several of you about it. I shot a complete 36 exposure roll of film on the ride and need to get them scanned to my computer. The landing was the most fun! We flew a circuit of the field, and lined up with a runway at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. The first officer was flying it, and he rotated the elevator control wheel and pointed the nose down at the runway. It was at such a steep angle I could not stay on my seat! No seat belts! The only thing that was running through my mind was the scene from the movie Black Sunday (i think) where Bruce Dern was diving the Goodyear Blimp into the Super Bowl and planning to blow it up! We rolled out perfectly level, made such a smooth touchdown that I could hardly feel it, and the ground crew caught the guide ropes to stop us. I got out and had a smile on my face that lasted the rest of the day!
   The Goodyear blimp has made several appearances at Oshkosh and have lots of photos of it also. A few years ago, they brought the new Zepplin through on tour for Farmers Insurance and it was quite remarkable. It has articulated engines, and an extra steering engine on the tail, and looked to be at least twice as maneuverable as the Goodyear blimp and was twice as big, even in some pretty stiff winds. Very impressive.
    Type at you later,
     Dan McEntee 

[WLGeorge]

First time to see a blimp I was about 7 years old and had recently watched the old Orson Wells movie "War of the Worlds".  To say the least I was terrified until my old uncle explained it was a blimp.  I had ran in the house and grabbed my BB gun and was ready to defend planet Earth.  Glad they didn't zap me with their ray guns.  I still think it was aliens:-)