Spirit of Goodyear Farewell Tour

[00:30.000] On a bright October day, the Spirit of Goodyear began a one-week farewell tour [00:35.160] to say goodbye to Akron, Ohio. Akron is the home of Goodyear's corporate [00:39.080] headquarters and where the airship has been based since the year 2000 after [00:43.120] being christened by astronaut Dr. Sally Ride. [00:49.100] It's a great honor for me to christen such an American icon and I have to [00:55.760] admit I've always wanted to ride in one. Once christened, the Blimp served 14 [01:01.360] years as Goodyear's ambassador of the sky. During her final nostalgic week in [01:05.760] Akron, the Blimp flew high above the city thanking everyone for the great memories. [01:11.120] We're here standing in front of the onspiring spirit of Goodyear which will [01:15.440] be leaving the Akron area this week to join its sister ship the Spirit of [01:19.400] Innovation in Pompano Beach, Florida. It will operate there through the spring of [01:23.680] 2014 where it will be decommissioned and retired. [01:27.920] The reason the Spirit of Goodyear is leaving Akron is first it's going south to continue [01:32.540] doing some work before it retires and secondly we're building the new Goodyear NT and that [01:37.560] ship is very large. [01:38.860] It's 54 feet longer than this current airship of 192 feet long. [01:43.040] So we just don't have enough space in the hangar to house the Spirit of Goodyear and [01:47.720] to build the new NT. [01:50.120] Inside the hangar, work has begun on the new airship that will replace the spirit of Goodyear [01:54.520] Blimp. [01:55.520] Except this ship will not be a blimp, but a Goodyear Zeppelin NT. [02:00.760] This airship design was customized specifically for Goodyear's mission. [02:05.320] It's larger, faster, and has a semi-rigid frame supporting the envelope and its various [02:10.480] components. [02:11.480] So, will it still be called the Goodyear Blimp? [02:15.640] That's a great question. [02:16.840] do get that question and we get that comment when we call it the blimp. I call it the Goodyear [02:21.640] Blimp NT, NT being new technology. But in fact, technically it is not a blimp. A blimp [02:27.700] has no internal structure. This is a semi-rigid airship. It has a partial structure. But [02:34.440] in terms of familiarity and what people want to call it, we will not be criticizing anybody [02:40.000] who wants to call it the Goodyear Blimp. They want to say Goodyear Blimp NT, that's so [02:43.480] much the better. [02:46.840] With our cameras rolling, we took one last ride over the great landmarks of Akron during [02:55.960] the Spirit of Good Year's final week in town. [04:14.920] We're flying above Akron in the blimp on a beautiful fall day was an exhilarating experience. [04:34.180] The flight was smooth as silk and gave us the feeling of floating in a bubble. [04:38.540] On our flight, we asked Jerry Hissam, chief pilot of the Spirit of Goodyear, about flying [04:43.200] the airship, the excitement of the new Goodyear NT, and about saying goodbye to his old friend. [04:49.640] This airship was assembled in 2000 and between this and the NT there's a little bit of difference [04:55.720] in control inputs. With the GZ20, which is the airship we're flying right now, my control [05:03.360] is more manual and we have two primary controls and the first one is on my right hand side [05:09.840] here it's called the elevator wheel. It moves the horizontal surfaces which [05:14.520] pitch up and down and when I move that wheel those surfaces move up and down [05:19.680] and that pitches the bag up and down so that controls my altitude. Down on my [05:26.520] feet are rudder pedals and those control the vertical surfaces which move left [05:31.360] and right so the airship yaws left and right and that's how I steer it with my [05:37.200] feet. Going into the NT, the NT is a fly-by-wire system and it controls three [05:44.820] fins in the back but it has a joystick and has servos that move the control [05:51.660] surfaces. So whereas this is more manual, the NT is more electrically driven with [05:58.200] fly-by-wire system. We're coming into the last few months of operation with a GZ-20 [06:04.320] and it's kind of a bittersweet ending but we have a new airship called the NT [06:10.120] that's coming out but this ship right here that's being retired to Spirit of [06:14.360] Goodyear I was there the first day it was flown at Wakefoot Lake here which [06:19.280] was back in 2000 and hopefully I'll be there the last day it gets flown down [06:24.760] in Florida so that's pretty exciting pretty sad but it's exciting to see the [06:29.640] new antique about we're looking looking forward to it. [06:39.800] The blimp made a special pass over several landmarks, the old [06:43.040] Goodyear Zeppelin air dock, which was built in 1929 and now [06:46.720] used by Lockheed Martin and Goodyear's new corporate [06:49.960] headquarters. [06:54.440] The blimp attracts a crowd wherever it goes, but this is no [06:57.600] ordinary crowd. Over 2,000 Goodyear employees gathered outside to wave goodbye to their [07:03.200] beloved airship and share their thoughts about its retirement. [07:06.600] It's drifted out to work here for so long just to see the blimp flying overhead. My [07:11.680] life's goals is to get a free ride on the blimp one day. [07:15.240] The blimp's been a part of Akron for so many years that it's pretty sad to see it go, but [07:19.280] we're excited to have a new one coming. We're excited to see it. [07:22.480] Yeah, very sad. You know, it's Akron Eye Cup. [07:26.000] Well, I never got a ride so I'd like to take a ride. [07:31.500] It was now time to end our ride and head for home. [07:36.820] Landing in the blimp was just as fun as taking off. [07:39.600] The skill and finesse used by the pilot to bring the airship in for a gentle landing [07:44.040] was truly amazing. [08:26.000] The [08:47.740] spirit of Goodyear actually has a very long history, especially the passenger gondola. [08:53.960] The GZ2028 airship is the most successful airship design ever. [08:58.780] For example, ever since 1969, one has been flying and by the time that 2017 comes around [09:04.780] when the last one comes out of service, the design would have been flying for 48 years. [09:10.860] As a part of that design history of the GZ2028 airship is the airship behind me, Spirit of [09:16.740] Goodyear. [09:18.020] This control car carries serial number 4118 and the national registration number N38. [09:25.220] Originally it was built brand new as America N38 in 1982 and was in service for about nine [09:32.060] years ten months in Houston, Texas. [09:35.140] Then in 1992 it was refurbished for the first time and put into service as Stars and Stripes [09:41.020] and put into service in Pompano Beach, Florida for about seven years. [09:48.020] Then again in the year 2000, it was put into service and refurbished again as the Spirit [09:53.860] of Goodyear. [10:00.700] The Spirit of Goodyear in particular will be the oldest active continuously operated [10:06.620] airship ever, even eclipsing the venerable Graf Zeppelin, except for flight hours. [10:17.900] As the week came to a close, it was time for final goodbyes. [10:21.300] The airship team gathered for one last group photo to mark the end of another era in airship [10:26.300] history. [10:29.660] The airship crew and their family members gathered to say goodbye, not just to the blimp, [10:33.860] but to each other. [10:35.300] Any time the airship travels, the ground support team must travel with her. [10:39.140] They will be gone for two weeks as they accompany the airship to Florida. [10:43.940] So traveling with the blimp, sometimes it would be a little hard on the families. [10:47.660] Everybody goes with us. [10:48.660] Everywhere we go, 21 guys go. [10:50.460] So we got 16 ground crew, four pilots, and a PR manager. [10:55.460] Some of them ground crew are maintenance for the airship. [10:58.660] Some are maintenance for our ground support equipment. [11:01.620] electronics technicians which also serve as our camera guys for aerial [11:05.700] television broadcasts. Sometimes it'd be a little tough on the families, however a [11:12.420] lot of times during the summers when the kids aren't in school and things [11:15.580] like that they get to travel around with us so that makes it kind of nice. On the [11:21.340] way the crew will follow the blimp south along the eastern part of the United [11:25.180] States and will stop to provide national network television duties at three major [11:29.260] college football games. Once they reach Pompano Beach, Florida, the blimp will [11:33.380] work for a short time before being decommissioned in the spring. [11:38.660] Just like a military operation, the crew meets in the briefing room to discuss [11:43.300] their trip, safety concerns, and any other business that needs addressed, including [11:47.540] passing out a special commemorative pin. [11:50.860] Got a pin for everybody. There'll be a little token of the fact that you were here for the last flight out of Wayne Putley. [11:59.260] At the end of the meeting, crew members do their final checks and finish packing the [12:10.780] support vehicles with all the necessary equipment for the trip. [12:15.540] Back in the briefing room, pilots Michael Dokerti and Jerry Hissom check the weather [12:19.460] forecast and discuss the flight plan to ensure a safe trip. [12:33.220] Finally, the spirit of Goodyear is ready for her last takeoff. [12:49.460] After serving 14 years, she leaves the ground never to touch down here again. [13:19.460] The [13:37.540] Rounding the hangar one last time for the media gathered to record this historic event, [13:41.620] the pilots brought the blimp down in a victory pass over the airfield. [13:46.340] The spirit of Goodyear was aptly named. [13:48.540] She will live on in the memories of those who operated her or saw her fly at numerous [13:52.980] events. [13:53.980] She now passes the torch of history on to her larger sister ship, the new Goodyear Blimp [13:58.220] N.T., who will continue Goodyear's 100-year legacy of airship excellence.