CoolPix: The New Goodyear Blimp (Zeppelin) Is Taking Shape!

(click pic for hi-res) The first all-new Goodyear/Zeppelin airship coming together in Ohio

 Technically it's an airship and not a blimp (due to some internal support structure) but Goodyear is sticking with the blimp terminology even tho my small and highly unscientific poll from last fall is showing that about 45% of people say they shouldn't use the blimp term while 37% say it's a beloved term and totally acceptable... not surprising, almost 18% voted for: Really? Does anyone even care about this stuff?

 In a rare break with my desire for accuracy and proper detail, I'm ok with the blimp term being used going forward. I'm even more ok with the reality of what fabulous airships these new Zeppelins will be for Goodyear. This unique partnership between Goodyear and Germany's Zeppelin has its roots all the way back to early 1920's when they worked together before WWII on the huge military airships like the USS Macon and the USS Akron. So working together once again is actually a very interesting re-connection.

 I've been fascinated with airships since I was about 5 years old. In fact, in 1969 (when I was 8 years old) my dad and I got to ride in the Goodyear Blimp Columbia that was based near Los Angeles. My dad was flying 727's for UAL out of LAX at the time and lived in some apartments right next to the blimp mooring site in Carson California, so I was able to watch it come and go a lot. During our ride, the blimp pilot even let my dad hop in the pilot's seat and fly the blimp for a bit once he found out he was a 727 driver : )

(click pic for hi-res)  The Zeppelin Goodyear 'blimp' assembly in Akron Ohio 

 
 My only other airship ride was much more recent -- in 2011 when the Farmers Zeppelin NT stopped in Indianapolis on its tour around the country. It was shortly after Oshkosh 2011 where the Zeppelin had spent the week doing commercial rides and just generally filling the Oshkosh sky with pure airship awesomeness. My ride in Indy was fantastic... the Zeppelin NT is an amazing flying machine. It was everything I had hoped for, and more. Unfortunately, that particular Zeppelin NT, operated by Airship Ventures in California, has since been dismantled and returned to Germany after the company encountered financial difficulties.

 The new Zeppelins for Goodyear will be the best 'blimps' they've ever had, by far. The one being assembled in Akron Ohio in these pix will be flying in 2014 and two more are planned to join the fleet at some point in the future.

HELP! Save The Airship Ventures Zeppelin NT (And AirPigz Too)

A little photoshop excercise to bring the Zeppelin NT and AirPigz together 

 Yesterday was a really sad day for the Zeppelin NT operated by Airship Ventures out of Moffet Field near my birth city of San Francisco... financial hardship brought all operations to an abrupt standstill. When the airship was on tour across the country in 2011, including its fabulous stops at Oshkosh and Indianapolis (I rode Eureka in Indy!), it was wearing the Farmers Insurance graphics, but that sponsorship deal ended many months back. It's this kind of advertising revenue that makes an operation like this possible, even if still questionably profitable. This beautiful Zeppelin airship named 'Eureka' has worn many different sponsor graphics in the four years it has been in service, and has also safely taken over 20,000 passengers for a ride. But without a corporate sponsorship deal, the company has found itself unable to continue operations.

 It appears that there's still a week or two for an angel to come forward and make a sponsor deal to keep the airship flying. If you're in a position to see the value in spending $5 million to $6 million to have your company logo on the largest flying billboard in the world for a year, then please go now and check out the Airship Ventures sponsorship page.

 Even better, why not invest the cash to keep this one-of-a-kind airship operation in business (there are only two Zeppelin NT's in the world, this one, and one in its home country of Germany) and then put the AirPigz logo on the side like my photoshop graphic above shows. This would keep Airship Ventures operating here in the Unites States and would also provide a much needed boost to my quest for AirPigz to achieve 'Avgeek World Domination'. I realize this idea is a pretty tall order, but I'm sure there's at least one very nice, very wealthy person out there who would give this some serious consideration. After all, it's only money : )

 Seriously tho, I really do hope that a sponsorship deal somehow materializes. Otherwise this amazing airship that's been operated very professionally for four years will simply be dismantled and sent back to Germany. It's fairly easy to understand how the recession has made an airship operation difficult to succeed with, but added to that is the reality that sky-rocketing helium prices have complicated the process even more. However, a fresh sponsorship deal should allow things to get back to 'normal' for at least another year.

 I admit that I can't graph it out on paper, but I really do believe that airships are somehow good for people... good for the world. And the Zeppelin NT has proven itself to be a fantastic, safe, and successful airship. I sure hope someone steps forward to #SaveEureka.

(AirPigz will likely survive even if someone doesn't pay for the logo to be put on the side of the Zeppelin airship, but right now would be a perfect time for you to consider donating to my work here... the donate link is to the left of the title of this post - thank you)

Without a sponsorship deal in the next 2 weeks, Airship Ventures will close permanently

Poll: Should Goodyear Still Call Their New Zeppelin NT Airships 'Blimps'?

Zeppelin NT airships come to Goodyear in 2014, but are they 'blimps'? (photo: Zeppelin)

 The reviving of the relationship between the Goodyear company and the Zeppelin company is truly remarkable, as is the thoroughly modernized Zeppelin NT, or 'New 'Technology' airship, first flown in 1997. It's even more interesting that Goodyear will be replacing all of their iconic blimps with Zeppelin NT's in the coming years. The first assembly work begins in January 2013 in Akron Ohio and it appears that they expect the first of the new airships to be operating in early 2014. (learn more about the Zeppelin NT here)

 But there's one important distinction here... blimps don't have any rigid structure inside them, but the Zeppelin NT definitely has some rigid structure inside that big envelope that allows for the engines to be mounted up high on the side (rather than on the gondola like the blimps) and for an engine to mounted at the very aft end of the envelope. So technically, the Zeppelin NT is a semi-rigid airship, not a blimp. But Goodyear has indicated that they'll be calling the new aerial advertising platforms by the same blimp term that we've all grown up knowing. Usually I'm a real stickler for the correct use of technical terms like this, but this time around I'm totally cool with calling the NT's blimps.

 But what about you? Is this mis-used term gonna fly with you, or it it a big no-no? Or, maybe you just can't imagine anyone actually caring about it! Answer the poll question below to let the world where you stand on Goodyear and their big bags of helium : )

Reno Air Races & The Great Reno Balloon Race - Videos By The University Of Nevada

 Sometimes I just don't understand the internet. These two videos put out by the University of Nevada have been on youtube for a week now but have hardly been viewed... but these videos are fantastic! In my opinion they should have thousands and thousands of views by now. They are apparently part of a 'This Is Nevada' project and they each showcase an awesome aviation-oriented event that takes place in Reno during the month of September. For 2012, The Great Reno Balloon Race took place September 7-9 and then the Reno Air Races of course took place September 12-16.

 The production work in these videos is fabulous, with an excellent music background and near perfect editing. So I'm doing my part to try to crank up the numbers of views that these videos have. Any flavor of avgeek should be quite satisfied soaking up either the awesome speed and power of the Reno Air Races video, or the beauty of hot air balloons (the slowest of flying machines) in the video below - especially the first part of the video where they rise all aglow into to the pre-dawn sky. Wow! I think there's a pretty good chance you'll agree with me when I say that there's just something so very special about things that fly... and when a video does a great job of capturing that very special nature, you have a valuable tool to light the fires of passion in people of all ages for the amazing thing we call flight. Enjoy : )

The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) Is Not A Lot Of Hot Air!

(click pic for hi-res)  LEMV on its first flight August 7, 2012  (photo: Northrop Grumman)
 

(with CoolPix and video)
 

 Even with some nagging development delays, Northrop Grumman's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) still went thru the design/prototype/first flight process in the pretty short time frame of just over 24 months. Working with several partner organizations (most notably Hybrid Air Vehicles in England) and pulling together the latest hybrid airship technology, NoGr has taken a giant step forward in creating the first truly viable military airship concept. Some critics out there see this as just a batch of hot air, but a closer look at the capabilities and operating costs associated with the helium filled LEMV point to this being an impressive project.

 The first flight, over 90 minutes in duration, was conducted on Tuesday August 7, 2012 at Lakehurst, New Jersey (sound familiar?) and it appears it was a great success. The plan at this point is for the LEMV to complete all testing and be deployed to Afghanistan by the U.S. Army in early 2013 as an airborne platform for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The ability to remain airborne for up to 21 days radically transforms the capability of an ISR platform. And, with the ability to operate with a manned crew, as a UAV, or completely autonomously, the LEMV adds significant versatility to the method in which it operates.

Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) first flight video - August 7, 2012
 

 One of the most valuable capabilities of the 302' long LEMV is the enhanced payload. By using the helium in the advanced envelope to drastically reduce takeoff weight, the LEMV then uses the shape of the envelope (with forward airspeed) to generate 40% it's overall lift and the vectored thrust from four engines with ducted fans to generate about 25% of it. It's still unclear to me if the engines are Thielert 350hp diesel V8 engines, or turboprops, or a combination of the two. For heavy payloads (2,750 pounds), and especially for extremely heavy payloads (15,000 punds - Heavy Lift Configuration) the LEMV requires a takeoff roll to become airborne. It appears tho that the takeoff distance is at or below 1000 feet even at the heaviest weights.

 The hybrid airship can operate as high 20,000 feet and has a loiter speed of 30 kts with a dash speed of 80kts. Airships have always been challenged by the difficulty of landing in strong and gusty winds, but the impressive vectored thrust capabilities on the LEMV, combined with its long endurance would mean that landing frequency would be greatly reduced and also far easier to accomplish. Additionally, landings could be more easily scheduled to occur during more desirable weather conditions. The Zeppelin NT airship has certainly shown how much more versatile a 3-axis vectored thrust airship can be in the takeoff and landing phase.

 Front view of the LEMV on first flight  (photo: US Army Space & Missile Def Command)

 Overall, the LEMV appears to headed toward a successful deployment, despite the past attempts and failures of a variety of heavy lift airship concepts, and the ever challenging world of acquiring defense funds and operational support. The next few months of this program will really tell if the LEMV can live up to its potential.

 Lastly, you should note that the first flight video shows the LEMV flying at a very light weight where a takeoff run isn't required. And, instead of rotating the entire duct and prop, the LEMV appears to use movable vanes behind the ducts to vector the thrust. I also noticed in the hi-res CoolPix image, when looking at the nose of the airship, the right envelope body looks to be a different shape than the left body. When you look at the image just above here that shows a more frontal view, you can see what appears to be a larger radius nose on the right body, and it may actually protrude forward of the left body. I'm not really sure what exactly is going on there, or why, but it does look intentional. There will be lots more interesting details to learn about this very unusual airship in the coming months!

Goodyear Blimp Coming To OSH12 (With Retro OSH71 Blimp Pic)

(click pic to enlarge) Goodyear Blimp & N8407 Ford Tri-Motor (now EAA's) at Oshkosh 1971

 The Goodyear blimp will be coming to Oshkosh 2012 and that makes me very happy! I think having an airship overhead while living the avgeek life at the greatest place on Earth is both calming and exciting.  The Zeppelin NT was awesome last year and the Goodyear Blimp will be fabulous this year. Looks like it's scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, July 25th and then will be departing Saturday, July 28th.

 I did a little digging thru the AirPigz family photo album and found this nifty pic of the Goodyear Blimp 'America' from way back at the second Oshkosh in 1971. The annual EAA fly-in and convention was held at Rockford Illinois before making the move to Oshkosh in 1970. I was fortunate to make the last Rockford in 69 as an 8 year old. Then I caught the first Oshkosh in 1970, and every one after that until I finally missed one in the early 90's. This year is something like my 35th Oshkosh experience... and I can hardly wait for it to start!

 Another interesting part of that pic above is the Ford Tri-Motor... it's N8407, the 4-AT (slightly smaller than the 5-AT) that wound up being blown over in a wind storm a couple years later. It's the one that the EAA rebuilt and has at Oshkosh every year. Pretty cool seeing it way back in the day here. It's especially cool for me because my dad and I got to know Chuck LeMaster really well about a year later. Chuck flew this Tri-Motor at Oshkosh and let me take the control wheel that year when I went for the co-pilot ride! A few years later I had the amazing opportunity to travel with Chuck and his crew several times in the 5-AT N414H that he operated in the ride business thru the mid 70's. And I got to do even more of the same with them when he operated N7501V, one of only two Bushmaster 2000's built.

 So I think an old 1971 pic of N8407 and the Goodyear Blimp is a perfect way to keep our eyes on July 23rd and the start of Oshkosh 2012!

Super Bowl Sunday And My Past Aerial Pix Of Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium

(click pic for hi-res)  Downtown Indianapolis from the Farmers Airship - August 2011

 With football's biggest day now in our lap, and the start of Super Bowl XLVI (that's 46 for the non-Romans among us) just hours away inside Indy's awesome Lucas Oil Stadium, I figure this is a good time to re-share two aerial pictures I was blessed to be able to capture of downtown Indianapolis in the last two years. The first one above is the most recent, taken in August 2011 from the Farmers Airship, the modern and amazing Zeppelin NT. For more pix and the full post, please check out: I Rode The Zeppelin! - The Farmers Airship In Indy! (Short Post). I'm still planning to put up the long post on this ride which will include some video, but too much work to do and not enough time means I haven't got that done yet.

 The second pic (below) was taken from the B-17 named Yankee Lady back in June 2010. It was an incredible flight I was able to go on during the 2010 Indy Air Show that had us flying over downtown for 30 minutes or so and then making a pass right over Victory Field ballpark that's located very near Lucas Oil Stadium. For more info on that ride-of-a-lifetime with more fabulous pix of Indy from the B-17, please check out: 2010 Indy Air Show Pic Stream #3 - B-17 'Yankee Lady' Ride! I'm noticing that I also planned to expand that ride into a more detailed post... I guess I've got some work to do!

 Anyway, these pictures of downtown Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium were really just byproducts of two simply stunning rides that I was able to participate in. And I'm glad that Super Bowl Sunday has come along to give me the reason to share them with you once again... which has also given me the chance to re-live two perfect rides in a couple of very different and fascinating flying machines : )

Lucas Oil Stadium and Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis taken from a B-17!

Google May Come To The Rescue Of Historic 'Hangar One'

(click pic to enlarge)  Hangar One at Moffett Field in 2008 (photo: Telstar Logistics)

 I'm a little late to the party with this info, but as they say; better late than never. Which also happens to apply to this unique situation with the historic Hangar One at Moffett Field near San Jose, California... just when the future for this amazing structure looked really bleak, and while work continued removing the building's outer skin, Google has stepped up to the plate to offer an encouraging solution. Ok, actually it's the principal players at Google; Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt who offered up a plan in September (tho not made public til mid-December) where their H211 company would put forth $33 million to restore the building in exchange for being able to use up to 2/3 of the floor space to park their fleet of aircraft, which include a 767, 757 some G-V's and a recently added Alpha Jet.

(click pic to enlarge) 1,133' long by 308' wide - 8 acres under roof! (photo: Telstar Logistics)

 You can find more info on the situation in this article from the San Jose Mercury News, including some pix of the hangar with the skin coming off. There seems to be a fair amount of politics involved in all the goings on at Moffett these days, but I think that a deal with H211 to save Hangar One from being totally dismantled is a good way to go. In this modern age of a lack of government funds to pay for the things we've often taken for granted, some private support seems like just the ticket. And, as an Android fanboy, I'm just really happy it isn't an Apple related solution : )

(click pic to enlarge) The boggling structure of Hangar One (photo: Telstar Logistics)

 Hangar One was built in the 1930's and once housed the USS Macon, the 784 foot long US Navy airship built by the Goodyear-Zeppelin company. Moffett Field is also home to the awesome Farmers Insurance Zeppelin NT airship.

Video: Hot Rod Airship - Including Aerobatics!

 Ok, it's only an RC airship and the 'aerobatics' is just one Immelmann and some vertical climbing, but it's still pretty impressive stuff. The size alone of this RC airship is enough to make me take serious notice. And, as the Zeppelin NT is configured, this airship is clearly heavier-than-air. With a good power to weight ratio, having the airship use thrust to sustain flight and then using the 'heavy' aspect for both easy, rapid descent and better ground handling really seems to be a great idea.

 Just so ya know, AirPigz isn't moving toward all-airships-all-the-time, but I figure now is a great time to take my life-long love of airships and tap into some of the intriguing aspects of what's going on these days with these really unique flying machines. You can expect a few more weeks of interesting airship posts. Floaters unite! : )

Screenshot of the hot rod RC airship in this video

Please Consider Signing The Petition To Save 'Hangar One' Now!

(click pic for hi-res)    Sign the online petition to save Hangar One at Moffett Field

 This amazing image of Hangar One at Moffett Field in the 30's was the very first CoolPix I ever posted. It was so cool having an interesting image like this available to see in hi-res that I changed my thinking right away to make hi-res one of the identifying features of an AirPigz CoolPix.

 But I have it posted here again for a very different reason. I'm hoping you'll go over to the online petition to Restore Moffett Field's Hangar One and consider signing it to help encourage some action in getting a real restoration effort under way. You can learn a little more about the hurdles getting in the way at SaveHangarOne.org.

 I don't know the whole story, but it seems to me that the people who've taken over the state that I was born in back in 1961 (I was actually born right in the city of San Francisco) have created a lot of resistance to the preservation of this majestic and historical landmark. I think it's high time we push back. Signing the petition is about all the pushing I can do right now, and it may not make any difference in the end, but it feels good taking some sort of action.

 I don't know how long the petition has been up, but when I signed just a few days ago, I wound up at #463. Tonight, it's up to #612. Please think about signing, and if you're able, spread the word on this so we can get many thousands of names on there asap. Thanx!

 

 Here's a picture of Hangar One from more modern times. However, my understanding is that currently a portion of the building's skin has been removed exposing some of the internal structure to the elements. Quick action will be needed to keep this stunning (and massive!) architectural achievement from rotting away. Please sign the petition!