DANVILLE — Hovering over Danville on Wednesday after the weather dried up, the Goodyear blimp gave select employees of the Danville manufacturing facility a view of the River City from above.
The aircraft that’s marking its 100th anniversary this year started the roughly 40-minute rides shortly before noon Wednesday for employees of the Danville Goodyear plant drawn at random. It was also seen above Christiansburg on Thursday.
The blimp was stationed at Danville Regional Airport on Wednesday morning, drying out from showers and drizzle that fell on the city.
After only a slight delay, the tours got underway.
”We are real weight-dependent,” Joe Erbs, a senior pilot with the aircraft, told the Register & Bee. He’s one of the pilots who came to the city for the event.
The pilots and passengers sit in what’s known as a gondola, a space that can hold up to 12 people but generally handles about eight at a time.
”The windows in the gondola are slanted, so you can look straight down,” Erbs explained of the view from above.
Officially known as Wingfoot One, it’s the oldest of three ships. Built in 2014, this one is stationed in Ohio. Two others are in California and Florida.
Erbs has flown in all three, which do move bases every few years.
”The wear and tear down in South Florida is different than California,” he explained, where there are no hangars and the ship sits in the bright, dry sun. That’s why the three blimps trade homes every so often.
Since he interacts with people — mostly Goodyear employees — in the aircraft each day, he gets asked thousands of questions, many of them over and over.
That doesn’t bother him one bit.
However, there is a question that to pilots appears offbeat.
”They think we pack it up inside a truck and drive it to the next place,” he said of things people ask him quite often.
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Plant employees filtered into the waiting area of Danville Regional Airport on Wednesday morning, waiting for the first ride.
The corporation did not allow the media to interview any of those workers. Goodyear was once Danville’s largest employer. However, earlier this year it announced layoffs that resulted in a reduction of about 850 jobs.
”What I do like about this job is it’s different all the time,” Erbs said.
Jerry Hissem, another pilot who’s flown the aircraft for 28 years, said interacting with people is what he likes the best.
It’s also an upbeat atmosphere.
”Everybody’s happy and excited, not like the airlines,” Erbs said.
While it’s called a blimp, in technical terms, it’s not. With a blimp, its shape is maintained by gases inside, the pilot explained.
”Up until 2014, we were flying true blimps that didn’t have that internal structure,” Erbs continued.
It’s really a semi-rigid airship. Since that doesn’t “roll off the tongue,” they stick with calling it a blimp, even though some in the Facebook realm point out that it’s not.
Beyond passenger rides, the aircraft soars high above sporting events, mostly to capture high-definition video and photos.
”If we are doing a TV event, we could be up in the air for six to eight hours,” Erbs said.
This was the largest event he attended with a national championship college football game at Levi’s Stadium in California.
Compared to how it used to be more than a decade ago, when crews on the ground maneuvered the blimp to the surface, the way the engines are attached to the new aircraft means the pilot can navigate it without the use of those lines.
”Now it’s just the world’s most expensive windsocket,” Erbs said, pointing at the blimp when it’s on the ground with its nose attached to a truck.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first blimp, the aircraft was covered in mostly grey as a throwback to yesteryear. However, the iconic blue stripes are still there under the current coating.
Hissem estimates that he’s been to Danville about three times over his career, piloting the blimp.
”It is a beautiful city on the river here,” he told the newspaper.
Charles Wilborn
34-791-7976
cwilborn@registerbee.com
@CWilbornGDR on Twitter
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