Source: Akron Beacon Journal – Ohio.com
By Jim Mackinnon – Beacon Journal business writer
Goodyear has started building a second semi-rigid Zeppelin airship inside its Wingfoot Lake blimp base.
“The process will take a year or so,” spokesman Doug Grassian said Friday.
Parts for the new airship began arriving several weeks ago with work starting earlier this week, he said.
Triangular shaped section 5 consisting of frames 4 and 5 of the new airship can be seen suspended in hangar as Wingfoot One heads out for a flight at the Goodyear Airship base in Suffield Township on Friday. Goodyear has started building the second of three semirigid airships.
Photo: Mike Cardew – Akron Beacon JournalParts for the new airship began arriving several weeks ago with work starting earlier this week, he said.
The new, still-unnamed airship eventually will be based in California, replacing the Spirit of America blimp there.
Wingfoot One, Goodyear’s newest airship that first flew last St. Patrick’s Day, will make room for the finished airship by flying next fall to its permanent home in Florida, where the Spirit of Innovation is based, Grassian said. (The Spirit of Innovation might return to the Wingfoot Lake base, at least temporarily.)
Goodyear will build a third NT airship that will be based at the Portage County hangar.
These new airships, which Goodyear calls the NT, for New Technology, are modified German-designed Zeppelin models.
Tom Bradley Goodyear airship fabrication mechanic works on the second of three semirigid airships at the Goodyear Airship base in Suffield Township on Friday. Goodyear WIngfoot One is in the background.
Photo: Mike Cardew – Akron Beacon JournalTom Bradley, airship fabrication mechanic, was working Friday afternoon to finish part of the internal carbon fiber and aluminum framework called Section 5 that will support the weight of the craft’s two front engines.
It usually takes three to four days to finish a section with two people working on it, Bradley said.
“You have a lot of small pieces to install, then you also have the large pieces you have to install. A lot of muscle work,” he said. “It’s a pretty complicated beast. You’re working with aluminum, carbon fiber, Kevlar, so you have to be mindful of what you’re working with.
“It is pretty neat. The technology behind putting the airship together is a lot different from the airship technologies of the past,” Bradley said. “It’s a pretty big leap forward.”
Tom Bradley Goodyear airship fabrication mechanic works on a longeron for the second of three semirigid airships at the Goodyear Airship base in Suffield Township on Friday. Goodyear has started building the airships. Goodyear’s first zeppelin Wingfoot One rests in the background.
Photo: Mike Cardew – Akron Beacon JournalBesides having a lightweight internal frame, the new helium-filled airships also are noticeably longer and faster than the traditional nonrigid GZ20A blimps that they will replace. The NT models can carry two pilots and 12 passengers.
This second airship, which Goodyear is giving the designation NT2, will be virtually identical to Wingfoot One, the company said.
A part of the frame for the the second Zeppelin airship is laid out as Wingfoot One rests in the hangar at the Goodyear Airship base in Suffield Township on Friday. Goodyear has started building the second of three semirigid airships.
Photo: Mike Cardew – Akron Beacon JournalAny changes between the two airships will not be significant and not visible to the naked eye, said Ed Ogden, Goodyear’s public relations person at the blimp base.
The two airships will be able to fit inside the Wingfoot Lake hangar until the second airship is fully inflated.
Wingfoot One, now a familiar sight in local skies, succeeded the Spirit of Goodyear blimp, which has been decommissioned.
Wingfoot One’s eventual departure means that for the winter of 2015-2016, no Goodyear airship will be flying in the Akron area. Goodyear blimps typically do not do a lot of winter flying in Northeast Ohio, Grassian said.
Source: Akron Beacon Journal – Ohio.com