By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Yes, that thing in the sky over southern Salisbury Wednesday afternoon was the Goodyear Blimp.
Over the years, the Rowan County Airport has become a favorite sleep-over spot for blimps, and the Goodyear airship is here this week for Saturday’s Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The blimp circled the airport for about two hours Wednesday waiting for its operations team to arrive and set up a landing zone in the open field between the runway and National Guard Road.
Airport Manager Thad Howell drove a golf cart out to the landing site and waited to take photographs as a 20-man crew anchored a mooring mast to which the the blimp was tied.
The blimp made its final approach about 5:15 p.m. toward the runway. The crew grabbed the two long mooring lines hanging from the nose of the airship and pulled the blimp a short distance to the mast.
“Look how big that thing is,” Howell said.
The pilot had to use engine power, rudder controls and the elevator wheel to fly the blimp toward the ground crew.
As the blimp descended, the outside atmospheric pressure increased, making the helium inside contract. This caused ballonets to inflate automatically with air, maintaining a constant pressure inside the envelope of the blimp.
This particular airship, one of three in Goodyear’s U.S. fleet, is named the “Spirit of Innovation” and is based out of Pompano Beach, Fla.
The blimp traveled to Rowan County from Akron, Ohio, going through Frederick, Md., and Wilson and seemed to have bad weather following it much of the way.
Goodyear’s other U.S. blimps are the “Spirit of Akron,” based at the tire and rubber company headquarters, and the “Spirit of America,” stationed in Carson City, Calif.
Goodyear also has the “Navigator” blimp in China.
Blimps from MetLife and Fuji also have stayed at the Rowan County Airport.
Why the Rowan airport for this weekend’s NASCAR races?
“Concord doesn’t have the real estate,” Howell said.
The U.S. blimps for Goodyear log about 6,000 hours of flight time a year.
The Goodyear Blimp is 192 feet long, 50 feet wide, 59.5 feet high and has six passenger seats (including the pilot) in the gondola on the bottom of the airship.
It normally cruises at 30 mph and has a maximum speed of 50 mph, with a cruising altitude of 1,500 feet. Its maximum weight is 12,840 pounds.
Two engines provide the thrust. One wheel helps steady the blimp on landings.
The airship’s ground crew travels in a large bus, passenger van and tractor-trailer rig.
Goodyear says the bus is a rolling administrative office and the ground crew’s transportation.
The van serves as a shuttle, utility vehicle and command car. The tractor-trailer has shops helping electronic technicians and mechanics to perform repairs in the field.
The blimp never offers rides to the public because of time and space restraints. Some seats are made available to major Goodyear customers, charities and the media.
The Goodyear blimps date back to 1925. Goodyear built more than 150 airships for the U.S. Navy during World War II when they were used for aerial surveillance and convoy escorts.
In all, the company has built more than 300 blimps.
They often travel to major events, particularly sporting events such as the Super Bowl, NASCAR races and college bowl games.