Goodyear Blimp: Up close and personal
A couple of weeks ago my children and I got to experience something amazing as part of a field trip with our preschool parents group. I have mentioned the group on here before, called NHPP, and I highly recommend joining the group if you live near me. As president of the group this year, I'm happy to pass along any information you might like :) And if you do not live around here, do some searching online and talk to some other moms about groups you could join in your area!!
Anyway, the field trip that we got to go on was to see the GOODYEAR BLIMP!! It was especially meaningful for me and my girls because every time the blimp flies to Cleveland, it goes RIGHT OVER OUR HOUSE!!! Between all of the Browns games, Cavs games, Indians games and other events downtown, we see A LOT of the Goodyear blimp! Jaden and Sienna really enjoy looking for it as soon as they hear it coming and have each been pointing it out above our house since they were very young.
As we drove up to the blimp hangar, I wished that I could take a photo while driving to show the enormousness of the hangar. However, I could not safely photograph the building longways, which was really the enormous part. I did safely take a picture of the front of the building though:
Isn't it crazy how tall it is compared to that minivan!!?? Once inside the hangar, Jaden, Sienna and I were all in awe. It was amazing to be up close to the blimp and to learn quite a few facts about it!
Each of the children were allowed to go inside of the "cockpit" and sit in the pilot and copilot seats. So here was "Pilot Sienna" ready for take-off:
And here was "Co-pilot Jaden" all ready to go:
After all of the children had a chance to go inside, they showed us the lights on the left-hand side of the blimp. This past weekend Jaden saw the blimp flying home from Cleveland after a Cavs game and noticed the lights on it for the first time thanks to them pointing out the lights during our tour!
Finally, we concluded our tour with a visit to the area of the hangar where they build and repair the blimps. Walking back from that area to the door we entered / exited from, I took my favorite photo of all from that day:
Isn't it incredible!?!?! So now I have to know from the couple of readers I have but do not know in "real life"--have you ever seen the Goodyear Blimp flying??
Finally, I wanted to share a few of the facts that were shared with us on the tour which I found fascinating:
--There are 3 blimps in the USA located in Akron, Florida and California.
--Each blimp lasts approximately 12 years before it needs to be replaced. Each blimp takes 4 years or so to build, so the 3 US blimps are on a rotation for replacement.
--The Goodyear Blimp is non-profit meaning that they do not receive any money from TV stations or sporting events for being present. Instead, they do receive some advertising on TV as well as serve as an advertisement since the blimp says GOODYEAR really big on both sides.
--Only 6 people will fit in the tiny cockpit of the blimp.
--There used to be lights on both sides of the blimp, but when they decided to paint the blimp blue they had to take down the lights on one side to accommodate for the extra weight of the blue paint. Any clue how much the blue paint on the blimp weighs? FOUR HUNDRED pounds!! I never knew paint would weigh that much on what is really just a giant balloon!
--Someone stands guard with the blimp at ALL times to make sure it doesn't go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary, as well as to mostly make sure the helium & oxygen inside of the blimp stay balanced.
That's just a fraction of what was presented to us at the tour. It was such an awesome trip to go on--I'm so glad that we did it!!
Anyway, the field trip that we got to go on was to see the GOODYEAR BLIMP!! It was especially meaningful for me and my girls because every time the blimp flies to Cleveland, it goes RIGHT OVER OUR HOUSE!!! Between all of the Browns games, Cavs games, Indians games and other events downtown, we see A LOT of the Goodyear blimp! Jaden and Sienna really enjoy looking for it as soon as they hear it coming and have each been pointing it out above our house since they were very young.
As we drove up to the blimp hangar, I wished that I could take a photo while driving to show the enormousness of the hangar. However, I could not safely photograph the building longways, which was really the enormous part. I did safely take a picture of the front of the building though:
Isn't it crazy how tall it is compared to that minivan!!?? Once inside the hangar, Jaden, Sienna and I were all in awe. It was amazing to be up close to the blimp and to learn quite a few facts about it!
Each of the children were allowed to go inside of the "cockpit" and sit in the pilot and copilot seats. So here was "Pilot Sienna" ready for take-off:
And here was "Co-pilot Jaden" all ready to go:
After all of the children had a chance to go inside, they showed us the lights on the left-hand side of the blimp. This past weekend Jaden saw the blimp flying home from Cleveland after a Cavs game and noticed the lights on it for the first time thanks to them pointing out the lights during our tour!
Finally, we concluded our tour with a visit to the area of the hangar where they build and repair the blimps. Walking back from that area to the door we entered / exited from, I took my favorite photo of all from that day:
Isn't it incredible!?!?! So now I have to know from the couple of readers I have but do not know in "real life"--have you ever seen the Goodyear Blimp flying??Finally, I wanted to share a few of the facts that were shared with us on the tour which I found fascinating:
--There are 3 blimps in the USA located in Akron, Florida and California.
--Each blimp lasts approximately 12 years before it needs to be replaced. Each blimp takes 4 years or so to build, so the 3 US blimps are on a rotation for replacement.
--The Goodyear Blimp is non-profit meaning that they do not receive any money from TV stations or sporting events for being present. Instead, they do receive some advertising on TV as well as serve as an advertisement since the blimp says GOODYEAR really big on both sides.
--Only 6 people will fit in the tiny cockpit of the blimp.
--There used to be lights on both sides of the blimp, but when they decided to paint the blimp blue they had to take down the lights on one side to accommodate for the extra weight of the blue paint. Any clue how much the blue paint on the blimp weighs? FOUR HUNDRED pounds!! I never knew paint would weigh that much on what is really just a giant balloon!
--Someone stands guard with the blimp at ALL times to make sure it doesn't go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary, as well as to mostly make sure the helium & oxygen inside of the blimp stay balanced.
That's just a fraction of what was presented to us at the tour. It was such an awesome trip to go on--I'm so glad that we did it!!
Comments