When I found out that my weekend assignment was to ride in a Goodyear blimp in honor of Akron’s first-ever Blimp Day, to say I was excited would be an understatement.
I’ve been a reporter at the Beacon Journal for nearly 28 years but had never gotten a blimp ride.
Whether it would happen, though, wasn’t certain. The thunderstorms forecasted for June 6 meant that the two blimps scheduled to circle every Akron neighborhood could be grounded.
I went to bed not knowing, then woke up and got ready just in case. At 7:36 a.m., I received a text from Stephanie Marsh, Akron’s spokesperson that said, “Blimp Day is a go!”
I let out a little, “Yippee,” jumped in my car and drove to Wingfoot Lake in Suffield Township, the blimp’s Akron home.
After signing a waiver and watching a short safety video, we rode in a Goodyear van to the airstrip and climbed aboard Wingfoot 1 while a nearby crowd looked on. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I was going to get to ride in the blimp!
My prior ‘blimpilicious” experience
Though I’d never before ridden, that didn’t mean I had no prior blimp experience.
I was in the newsroom in October 1999 the night we learned that a blimp had crashed. There was much excitement and people running around until we heard that the blimp hadn’t really crashed. It had just slowly drifted into trees. (The pilots had minor injuries.)
One year when my family and I went to the Cleveland Air Show, a Goodyear blimp was part of the lineup. The blimp flew in a straight line, stopped, tilted up and down, then pivoted side to side. We all laughed, finding the airship’s display not nearly as thrilling as the high-speed aircraft.
It was exciting, though, the long-ago year that four blimps flew together through Akron. My colleagues and I went on top of the parking deck of the former Beacon Journal building and snapped a picture of us with the blimps in the background. I still have that picture displayed on my desk.
When the Beacon Journal asked local leaders and residents last year how to describe Akron in one word in honor of the city’s bicentennial, I suggested “blimpilicious.” This isn’t a real word, but I thought the blimp needed to be part of an exercise that aims to define Akron.
Little did I know that, less than a year later, I would get to go for a “blimpilicous” ride.
Mayor Shammas Malik announced the first-ever Blimp Day in his recent State of the City address. The event would mark the 101-year anniversary of the first flight of the blimp in Akron on June 3, 1925. Malik said this will be an annual tradition, with future events possibly including the chance for residents to get “up close and personal with these symbols of Akron.”
Watching Wingfoot 2 takeoff from Wingfoot 1
The other passsengers for my ride were Beacon Journal photographer Mike Cardew, who had ridden on a blimp four times but hadn’t been on this style of airship; Mary Joyce, Goodyear’s airship and community specialist who had been on two other blimp rides that week; and Patricia Porter, the city’s photographer, who, like me, would be taking her maiden voyage.
“I’m so excited!” Porter said.
There were no passengers aboard Wingfoot 2, the other blimp flying for Blimp Day, likely because it was scheduled to immediately fly to Detroit after the Akron event for a NASCAR race. That plan was scrapped on the morning of June 6, though, after seeing the updated forecast for the storm that was expected to hit Akron in the afternoon. Weather-permitting, the blimp would head to Detroit June 7 and go straight to the race.
After boarding Wingfoot 1, we strapped on our seatbelts and started snapping pictures of Wingfoot 2, which would take off after us. Wingfoot 1 swung slightly in the breeze as we waited, then swayed backward.
“Now, we’re officially stuck!” Joyce declared as the blimp gradually ascended. “There we go!”
Jessica Miladinovich, who would be piloting the blimp along with Joe Erbs, told us we would circle Wingfoot Lake a few times until Wingfoot 2 took to the skies. The two blimps would then start a counterclockwise route around the city that would circle over every Akron neighborhood.
I asked Miladinovich how they decide if it’s safe for a blimp to fly. She said it’s dependent on precipitation and wind.
“We can fly through rain,” said Miladinovich, a Goodyear pilot for two years. “We try to avoid thunderstorms.”
She said they try to stay 20 to 25 miles away from storms.
We watched as Wingfoot 2 ascended into the air and then got into line behind us.
“This is so cool!” Porter said.
“It is!” I agreed.
Two blimps circle Akron neighborhoods
In the distance, we could see the downtown skyline, which would provide a point of reference throughout our flight.
We flew over Ellet high school, with “City Series” visible in the end zones.
“There’s Goodyear headquarters,” Joyce said, with the distinctive clock tower coming into view.
We were free to move around the cabin after we took off, with Cardew and Porter doing this the most as they snapped pictures.
We passed Archbishop Hoban High School, where players on the baseball diamond looked like ants from 1,500 feet above. We went by the Lockheed Martin Airdock, which still looked huge from this height.
We flew over the former Chapel Hill Mall and the big box stores that surround it like a sea of giant roofs.
We got closer to downtown and I took a picture with my cell phone.
“I’ve been covering Akron for 28 years,” I said. “This is a whole different perspective of the city.”
We approached Merriman Valley and could see the Timber Top Apartments.
That’s when Erbs told us there had been a change in the plans.
Wingfoot 2 heads back as storm gets closer
Erbs said the storm had moved 25 miles in 15 minutes. He said Wingfoot 2 was heading back to the airstrip, so that it would be out of the way when our blimp landed.
Wingfoot 1, though, would continue circling Akron’s neighborhoods, flying solo.
“So, that’s the plan,” he said, before heading back to the cockpit.
I looked out of the window and could see that Wingfoot 2 had turned around and was heading back the way we’d come.
We flew over Portage Country Club – with the golf greens easy to distinguish – Highland Square, Lane Field and Summit Lake. The lake looked larger from the air than it does when you drive past.
About 11 a.m., we made it to Kenmore Boulevard, where a parade was about to start. A line of vehicles and people were lined up and we could hear sirens from the cruisers at the start and end.
The blimp circled around and flew right over the parade.
“I’m above you!” Porter said, knowing that Malik and Marsh were at the parade. “Hi guys!”
After that, we headed back to the airstrip, where Wingfoot 2 was already parked and secured with weights.
“Check this off my bucket list!” Cardew said.
After a two-and-half hour ride, we disembarked the blimp with the wind swaying the airship more than it had when we embarked.
Erbs, a Goodyear pilot for nine years who was on his second-to-last flight before retiring, said the thunderstorm would likely hit Akron within about two hours. He said they did what they could with the two blimps, then pivoted when they realized the storm was approaching more quickly than anticipated.
“We don’t like any adverse weather,” he said.
As the passengers and pilots parted ways, the wind kicked up.
“That’s probably 20 miles out,” Erbs said.
The storm could come now. I’d had my “once in a lifetime opportunity,” as the safety video called it. Finally, I’d gotten to ride in the blimp.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3705.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Beacon Journal reporter gets to take first ‘blimpilicious’ ride
Reporting by Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
