Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Wednesday Vignette: Want a ride?

Yesterday, I was finishing round one in the garden before going in for lunch and I looked up and saw something I hadn't seen in some time.




I used to see the Goodyear blimps quite often but it seems as though it's been at least a year since I saw it shuttling over the Port of Los Angeles.  Maybe it too has been sidelined by the pandemic.  The sighting seemed yet another sign that changes are afoot.

Curious, I looked up some basic facts about the blimp:
  • Rides are provided at the invitation of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and generally limited to Goodyear customers, winners of charity auctions, dignitaries, and members of the news media.
  • A ride for two obtained through a charity auction costs an average of $14,000.
  • There are no bathrooms on the blimp and no beverage service.
  • Headsets are required if you want to hear anything as the engines are very loud.
  • Blimps cost $2-3 million and their operating cost is estimated at $500,000 per year.
  • Only about 25 blimps are still in service, half of which are used for advertising purposes.
  • They can travel 150-200 miles per day and their maximum cruising speed is 73mph.
  • Since the Hindenberg, 4 blimps have crashed due to bad weather or malfunctions.
  • They've operated using helium rather than hydrogen since the 1930s.

After reading about them, I've lost whatever glimmer of interest I might have had in taking a ride in one.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party


20 comments:

  1. I’ve never cared for them. We used to see them occasionally in the sky over Sydney advertising various products when we lived there and they always seemed unnecessary to me, a kind of visual pollution! It was interesting reading your facts, but it seems the money could be better spent elsewhere.

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    1. The inference of the information I read online is that a ride is offered as a charity prize with some regularity, which surprised me, especially if the quoted bid was correct.

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  2. Interesting. I used to see them when watching sporting events on tv. That is as close to them I have been or want to be.

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    1. Even though the Hindenberg disaster was a very long time ago (1937), the image sticks with you even if you've only heard that scratchy newsreel reportage once in ancient school history class. It doesn't exactly amplify its appeal.

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  3. My grandpa was the director of the airport in Madison, Wisconsin for around 35 years. When I was 6 or so, the Goodyear Blimp came to the airport and I got to ride in it with my grandma. I never knew what she said to grandpa to get him to give up his seat for me. I guess it's possible that, as a military pilot, he didn't actually WANT to ride in the blimp!

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    1. Or, he just thought his wife and granddaughter would get more out of the experience. The noise would put me off. Once source likened it to a prop plane, which I don't think I'd willingly ride in either.

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  4. Interesting to see, but yeah, I'd stay on the ground. ;)

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    1. I might be interested in touring the blimp on the ground but apparently such tours aren't available.

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  5. I remember when the blimp was tethered at the junction of the 405 (San Diego Fwy back in the day) and the Long Beach Fwy.At least I think that's where it was. My best friend George and I would see it when we drove from our neighborhood near LAX to visit friends in Fountain Valley.

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    1. Unless something's changed recently, that's still where the blimp (or blimps) are located, Kathy.

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  6. HELIUM??? Wow... what a wasteful use of a precious resource! I actually learned about the scarcity of helium a long time ago, when I volunteered to decorate our kids' school auction. After what I learned then, I've stayed clear of using it. It's needed for so many more important, less frivolous things than human entertainment. Fun to read all the facts about it, though. I had no idea... https://thecreativeflux.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/helium/

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    1. I was a little surprised about the use of helium too, Anna, although I knew they weren't fueled by hydrogen any longer. I've heard of the helium shortage too. It's interesting that the shortage of helium wasn't cited as an explanation for the small number of blimps still in operation among the sources I consulted. NASA is apparently the #1 user of helium.

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  7. Fun facts.
    Seeing the first photo, the first word that came to mind was "prayer"... as in: please let it be A Good Year...

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    1. Yes, let's all hope its appearance is indicative of a good year to come.

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  8. Fun! This seems like such a 70's thing to me. Haven't seen a blimp in ages.

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    1. I hadn't seen the blimps much until we moved here, Loree. As Kathy noted, they're docked along the freeway in nearby Carson and it's therefore not surprising that they fly over the harbor and up the more scenic coast. If I paid $14k for a ticket to ride, I'd want a good show.

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  9. I used to live close to Anaheim Stadium and those things would fly over our house regularly when they flew over various sports things. They are very noisy. When one of my previous dogs was a puppy, a Goodyear flew over and completely terrorized him. He tried to crawl up my pants leg.

    We speculated his DNA kicked in to warn him that eagles hunt from above and swoop down to eat puppies. He was a completely fearless dog and the blimp was the only thing that ever spooked him. The dog that mistook a blimp for an eagle. I miss him!

    Thanks for the resurfacing of that memory.

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    1. Poor dog! At least the blimp is far enough away when it passes over the harbor that I can't really hear it.

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  10. Your post has just sent me in the direction of a dictionary Kris as I had not heard of the word 'blimp' but I see it's what we call an airship. Interesting to read about it and hopefully as you suggest it's appearance in the skies might be a sign of better days ahead.

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    1. We have to look for good signs wherever we can find them, Anna ;) I was surprised to spot the blimp again this afternoon, heading in the opposite direction. It's odd that, after a noticeable absence, it's appeared twice just 2 days apart.

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