Blinp ?

[Skyguy]

How about one for a change....it has been several years now.

[FlyingRon]

What's a blinp?

[CHICAGORANDY]

Aw c'mon Ron.... you know...like the ones Giidyear flies.

[FlyingRon]

I guess it makes less noise than the Hurrier.

[CHICAGORANDY]

On a related note, I live near Midway Airport in Chicago, and often when a blimp is in town to cover usually a sporting event on the lakefront, they tether there. An interesting bit of logistics. The semi trailers that haul it, the tanker trucks that fill it and the ground support crew etc. Quite the sight to behold.

I recall Goodyear's newest did appear at AirVenture a few years ago.

[Floatsflyer]

Agreed, the prep for pre-take off, take off, landing and securing is far more compelling than watching it lumber around the sky.

[Bill Berson]

They have big support trucks. But I think they fly it to the event rather than inflate it onsite.
Perhaps they add a bit of helium from time to time?

[FlyingRon]

They used to park them at the airport I was based at when they came to town. We referred to it as a giant windsock as they only moor it by the nose letting it swing with the wind.

[Dave Stadt]

Haven't all the blimps been retired? I thought only rigid airships were in service.

[FlyingRon]

Haven't all the blimps been retired? I thought only rigid airships were in service.

The current Goodyear fleet is "semi-rigid." Van Wagner (the operators of things like the MetLife ones) still flies non-rigid ones.

[Floatsflyer]

The current Goodyear fleet is "semi-rigid." Van Wagner (the operators of things like the MetLife ones) still flies non-rigid ones.

According to what I've read the Goodyear blimps are also non-rigid airships.

[DRGT]

A couple of years ago (when the Royals won the World Series), they parked a blimp at the downtown airport where I was based. It didn't cause a lot of air traffic congestion except during launch and recovery. I suppose you could launch the thing from Pioneer Field and keep it out of the traffic pattern. I hope they would bring it in at least a week prior to the show and stay until several days after the show. My only concern would be the disruption to air traffic.

[FlyingRon]

According to what I've read the Goodyear blimps are also non-rigid airships.

The three that are currently flying, are as I stated, semi-rigid. It's essentially a sled with one central backbone.

[Buzz]

Van Wagner (the operators of things like the MetLife ones) still flies non-rigid ones.
MetLife dumped their blimps when they moved away from the Peanuts characters in their marketing a couple years. Van Wagner then got rid of their blimp operation. Except for an occasional short-term sponsorship blimp as part of a promotion, Goodyear the only lighter than air left flying nationally.

[dclaxon]

A couple of years ago (when the Royals won the World Series), they parked a blimp at the downtown airport where I was based. It didn't cause a lot of air traffic congestion except during launch and recovery. I suppose you could launch the thing from Pioneer Field and keep it out of the traffic pattern. I hope they would bring it in at least a week prior to the show and stay until several days after the show. My only concern would be the disruption to air traffic..

When the Blimp has been at Airventure in the past, it did operate out of Pioneer, and just did fly-bys over Wittman

[dclaxon]

The three that are currently flying, are as I stated, semi-rigid. It's essentially a sled with one central backbone.

I was under the impression that the new ships were actually Zeppelins.
I don't know if it is true, but I heard years ago that the term blimp came from the designation of a "Class B Limp Airship."

[Floatsflyer]

I heard years ago that the term blimp came from the designation of a "Class B Limp Airship."

You must have been misinformed. That's ED medical terminology.

[rwanttaja]

I was under the impression that the new ships were actually Zeppelins.
I don't know if it is true, but I heard years ago that the term blimp came from the designation of a "Class B Limp Airship."

That's one of the stories. Don't think there's any evidence, though.

Another is that the name comes from British Army slang... "Colonel Blimp" was used to refer to a fat, useless officer.

A third is that the term is onomatopedic. Supposedly a Colonel Blimp sort of officer was inspecting a blimp one day. He thumped the fabric, and thought the sound it made sounded like "blimp".

"Zeppelins" are actually dirigibles, which are airships with shapes that don't alter with the presence of the lifting gas. They're named for their inventor, Count Von Zeppelin.

And when it comes down to it, "dirigible" merely means, "steerable." The name was co-opted for the airship type.

Ron "Worthless trivia a specialty" Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

I was under the impression that the new ships were actually Zeppelins.
They are joint developments of Goodyear and Zeppelin. Zeppelin's other projects are also semi-rigid these days.


I don't know if it is true, but I heard years ago that the term blimp came from the designation of a "Class B Limp Airship."
It's a widely held belief, but it's wrong. The best guess is that it's an onomatopoeic description of the sound it makes when you thump the envelope. Neither of the stories relating to "limp" roots seems to show any historical evidence to support it. Almost any pre-WWII word historically is unlikely to be an acronym.

[Bill Berson]

The three new Goodyear semi-rigid airships are not really "blimps" but Goodyear will call them blimps anyway.
See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Blimp

[FlyingRon]

The three new Goodyear semi-rigid airships are not really "blimps" but Goodyear will call them blimps anyway.
See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Blimp

I think we've covered that about six times already in the thread.

[Bill Berson]

The dictionary definition of "blimp" is a small ​non-rigid airship.
So a semi-rigid or rigid airship is not a blimp.

I don't see where that was explained six or even one time before my post.

[malexander]

I just HAD to check out this thread...….I thought someone was talking about their wife.:D

[FlyinAdamBadger]

The Goodyear Blimp "Wingfoot 1" last came to EAA AirVenture in 2015. They park the Goodyear Blimp at Pioneer Airport during the convention.

[FlyingRon]

The Goodyear Blimp "Wingfoot 1" last came to EAA AirVenture in 2015. They park the Goodyear Blimp at Pioneer Airport during the convention.

In the past, they use a hunk of grass between the museum/pioneer and the north 40. The thing only gets moored by the nose so it has to have enough space to swing into the wind. Amusingly, one year (probably in the 90's), I overtook the thing between OSH and MKE. It took me a minute to realize what it was that I was following. It was sort of like the first time I came into Akron. It took me a while to identify the blimp hangars as what they were at a distance (though I've seen them before at Moffett Field, CA and Tillamook, OR).

[BJC]

.... the blimp hangars as what they were at a distance (though I've seen them before at Moffett Field, CA and Tillamook, OR).I enjoyed a visit to the Tillamook Air Musum about 15 years ago. If one is in the area, it is worth a visit just to see the former blimp hangar that houses the museum.


BJC

[Tom Steber]

My Dad was a Navy blimp pilot in WWII and in the Reserves afterward. He was Stationed for awhile at Tillamook. He was stationed at all the blimp bases really, including both coasts. I believe the Lighter Than Air museum has several pictures of his as well as home movies he took.

[Buzz]

The blimps were essentially replaced for aerial imaging on sports television by an airplane designed by an EAA member. It's first TV appearance was in 1996 filming Yeager, Rusty Wallace in a flight of 4 P-51s at EAA '96. Shot quite a bit of the airshow that year for the DVD I believe.

Three weeks after EAA it filmed an IndyCar race for it's first live TV work. The airplane went on to win the top Emmy in sports television product for "Technical Achievement". The concept of using an airplane instead of a blimp was first conceived at EAA '94. $700K was put into the development cost of the concept. (The camera on the airplane was ~$400K)

[rwanttaja]

The blimps were essentially replaced for aerial imaging on sports television by an airplane designed by an EAA member. It's first TV appearance was in 1996 filming Yeager, Rusty Wallace in a flight of 4 P-51s at EAA '96. Shot quite a bit of the airshow that year for the DVD I believe.

Three weeks after EAA it filmed an IndyCar race for it's first live TV work. The airplane went on to win the top Emmy in sports television product for "Technical Achievement". The concept of using an airplane instead of a blimp was first conceived at EAA '94. $700K was put into the development cost of the concept. (The camera on the airplane was ~$400K)
Never heard of it. Can you tell us more? What kind of airplane, designer, etc.

Ron Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

There's already a helicopter flying over most NASCAR races, don't know why they don't use that. It's used to relay the live "in car camera" shots back to the truck.