Goodyear Blimp Airship Tragedy

Post by **DerGolgo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:04 am

http://www.airships.net/blog/goodyear-b ... sh-germany

The ship was used for TV coverage of a public fair in Hessen yesterday, about 20 miles north of Frankfurt.
Landing gear collapsed on landing and the gondola burst into flames. Pilot had the TV crew jump from 6 feet, the loss of ballast caused the ship to shoot up. He didn't make it.

This news has left me strangely speechless.

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:28 am

OMG that's horrible. That's pure anti-awesome. Damn.

guitargeek · Post by **guitargeek** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:21 am

Damn...

MoraleHazard · Post by **MoraleHazard** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:08 am

That's very sad; and very heroic on the part of the pilot. He had to know that w/out the weight of the TV crew, the ship would ascend.

piccini9 · Post by **piccini9** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:51 am

That's the stuff nightmares are made of.
Serious bravery is right, he had to know what was coming.

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:28 am

Damn, that took some balls.

Ames · Post by **Ames** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:37 am

Bag of suck. One can only admire the pilot's courage.

Mean Chuck · Post by **Mean Chuck** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:23 am

The first time I ever flew was on a Goodyear blimp, if I would have seen something like this I probably wouldn't have gotten on it. Very tragic.

Rabbit_Fighter · Post by **Rabbit_Fighter** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:28 am

Very sad story and inspiring heroism on the part of the captain.

I've also had the opportunity to fly in a Good Year blimp and loved it. I'd do it again if I had the chance.

Post by **DerGolgo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:51 am

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:I've also had the opportunity to fly in a Good Year blimp and loved it. I'd do it again if I had the chance.

You'll have to hurry, they announced they'd replace the entire fleet with Zeppelins about a month back.
I suspect that this event will hasten that.

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:18 am

The difference between Zeppelins and blimps is...?

Post by **DerGolgo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:24 am

Sisyphus wrote:The difference between Zeppelins and blimps is...?

Blimps are "non rigid" airships, they keep their shape because of the gas pressure in the envelope, like a baloon. There is no internal structure, once you release the gas you are left with the gondola and a big pile of nylon.
Zeppelins are rigid airships, they have an internal structure that holds the envelope in shape and gives the designers more lattitude as to where to put the engines and other heavy components that you couldn't hang off an inflated envelope.

MagnusTheBuilder · Post by **MagnusTheBuilder** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:25 am

Blimps... or as I like to call them "Sky <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugong">Dugongs</a>"... have inspired several pieces of art for me over the years as I find them strangely visually compelling.

I however see no need to fly in one. Similar to the way that I find strip clubs fiscally irresponsible concentrations of leering horny men. I know that I don't need that. It is a concentration of things that I dislike. Lack of control. I'm not piloting it. (As I am not trained to do so.) Strange and statistically irrational fear of combustion.

I will say, blimps certainly have an edge over hot air balloons... FUCK THOSE THINGS.

Oh... and that pilot is a hero.

And yeah, I just compared Blimps to strip clubs to sea mammals. I'm having a strange day. My brain is playing with itself for no good goddamn reason and you get to be witness to it. Sorry.

stiles · Post by **stiles** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:29 am

Zeppelins use a rigid framework to maintain their shape, blimps have no such frame and rely on the gas bag and a slight overpressure within it to hold their shape.

edit: beat me to it.

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:16 pm

But what gas do they use? I thought they used helium these days. I'm pretty sure they no longer paint them with thermite.

Post by **DerGolgo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:23 pm

Sisyphus wrote:But what gas do they use? I thought they used helium these days. I'm pretty sure they no longer paint them with thermite.

Yes, they use Helium, and no, they don't use thermite anymore.
What they do use is piston engines running on aviation gasoline, a big tank of it in the gondola. I'm guessing the hard landing ruptured some part of the fuel system. The envelope deflated when the flames reached it.

Post by **Beemer Dan** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:02 pm

Oh the humanity!

Rock · Post by **Rock** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:34 pm

Goofing aside the pilot is Hardcore and should be remembered.[/url]

Pintgudge · Post by **Pintgudge** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:13 pm

I hope that they will name one of the new dirigibles after him.

This number and letter identification is stupid for these things.

They deserve names.

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:21 pm

Kind of an odd day in aviation history; there was a B-17 bomber that crashed in NY state today too. Nobody got killed, though.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/video?id=8187383

The Shifty Jesus · Post by **The Shifty Jesus** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:56 pm

Damn.

Ice Cube is sad too.

Mean Chuck · Post by **Mean Chuck** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:33 pm

Pintgudge wrote:I hope that they will name one of the new dirigibles after him.

This number and letter identification is stupid for these things.

They deserve names.

They all have names, I am not sure why the article didn't use it, maybe it was a bit ironic. It was the Spirit of Saftey, the one I flew in was the America. They display their names on the bottom fin or whatever it is called.

Rench · Post by **Rench** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:28 am

Sisyphus wrote:Kind of an odd day in aviation history; there was a B-17 bomber that crashed in NY state today too. Nobody got killed, though.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/video?id=8187383

I opened your link at work yesterday Sisy, and I remember thinking "huh, odd, that's the Chicago affiliate loge for ABC, ah well..." No audio on my phone, just a plane burning.

Then, it's on this AM's news. It was headed to New York, I believe, but the bastard crashed in one of the towns I grew up in, southwest of the city.

Crazy aviation day indeed. I wish there'd be more stateside coverage of the blimp though. People should have the good side of humanity crammed in their face once in a while.

-Rench

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Goodyear Blimp Airship Tragedy

Goodyear Blimp Airship Tragedy