Learning To Fly: New Goodyear Blimp To Take Aerial Views Of Daytona 500

The newest addition to the Goodyear blimp fleet, Wingfoot One, will "provide the aerial views" for the broadcast of Sunday's Daytona 500 at Daytona Int'l Speedway, according to Dinah Voyles Pulver of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL. The new blimp "worked qualifying on Sunday for the Daytona 500 and then offered rides to the media and special guests on Monday, flying out of the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport." Assembly of the new airship began in March '13. The company is "transitioning its fleet of three blimps to the newer models." Goodyear Airship PR Specialist Dan Smith said that the second "is under construction" at the company's Akron hangar. Each of the three blimps "works about 100 events a year." At 246 feet and 20,000 pounds, the new model "is about 50 feet longer and considerably quieter, hitting volumes of only about 64-69 decibels." Pilot James Kosmas said that the ship "can hold about 36 hours of fuel and uses about 10 gallons an hour in flight" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/16).