Goodyear Blimp Blog

Sweet home Alabama

Our three-day trip to Talladega went off without a hitch. We were greeted by a great crowd in Dothan, Ala., including a camera crew from WTVY, who made us feel right at home. On Friday, our flight path took us directly over my alma mater Auburn University. It's always a thrill for me to see the campus from above.

Unfortunately the great weather from our trip did not carry over for the races. The forecast called for a strong chance of rain and thunderstorms all weekend so we expected a tough assignment. We launched on Saturday for coverage of the Nationwide race. The telecast was going well, but a line of thunderstorms was threatening to cut off our path between the track and the airport in Gadsden. We left the race early and landed without a problem. Sunday promised more of the same, and it delivered. After a strong start with our aerial coverage, we were forced to leave the race early to ensure a safe landing back at Gadsden. We hated to leave such an exciting race, and we had a perfect aerial picture for the audience. We can't take a chance, though, when thunderstorms are that close. As the saying goes, "I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air than the other way around."

We're on our way back home to Pompano for a short stay before heading back out on the road.

Cold fronts and Speed Weeks

We left this morning to fly the airship to Flagler County Airport (just north of Daytona) to set up for aerial coverage of the Speed Weeks races and the 50th running of the Daytona 500. This is a special treat for us also as the Goodyear blimp has flown above nearly every Daytona 500.

We departed our home base in South Florida and enjoyed the beautiful sights over the beaches, as well as a tailwind. Our nice day didn't last long as we hit a cold front around Ft. Pierce, Fla. I have no idea why it didn't dawn on me to bring my jacket knowing that we were to pass through a cold front in flight. We climbed to 3000 feet to avoid strong headwinds at the lower altitudes. The temperature also dropped, and now even with the cabin heater running at full steam it was quite cold -- 55 degrees.   

We also had the door on the right side of the gondola removed to accommodate the installation of our camera gear, which we'll use to capture those pretty aerial shots of the race track during the network telecasts. This gave us a brisk breeze. We complained about the temperature until we landed at Flagler County and thawed out. Seems silly, but I don't think I will forget my jacket again on a northbound flight past a cold front.

Blimp camera