Goodyear blimp

**KIRCHNER** · 11-21-2020, 07:06 PM

IM i the only 1 who saw the blimp go by fri. along fl suncoast? it was the real deal, about 2000' up, i could hear the props. nothing on radio, news. a true time capsule. i feel bad that younger generation missed such an awesome spectacle, just amazing site to see. i guess you cant text and look up at the same time...LOL. it was headind south to clearwater, fighting a strong crosswind. i couldnt take a pic, was painting roof trim. never saw it so close right overhead .

**FUJIMO** · 11-21-2020, 07:34 PM

...every year for decades, it comes to florida in the winter & stays up north in the summer. blimp station is in pompano beach. they were talking about relocating it after all these years, don't know if & when though. am i the only one that enjoyed the air show in lauderdale today. no mention of that either. they ripped...and i mean ripped right over my house for hours, as they have been also doing for years here. called the "air & sea" show. wow, very cool to see AND hear as usual...

**KIRCHNER** · 11-21-2020, 08:19 PM

Sound like a great show. they never broadcast any Good news, like the space program launches, astronomical events, its always a day late. or they skip it altogether. like those huge D O T signs on the highways, mostly blank. they cant say ,Have a nice day? or Merry christmas, or any cheerful message? Never. only buckle-up, dont drink, watch out for this, for that. how about[God bless america? that wouldnt be politically correct i guess? those l e d signs cost millions of dollars, a smart phone can do the same, gezz a filp phone gets the same alerts.

**FUJIMO** · 11-22-2020, 12:21 PM

...yes, it IS a great show. they just started up again right now, for the second day! they are ripping up the neighborhood! jets loud as shiit... see ya, go ta go outside, get on the roof again!...

**David - WI** · 11-22-2020, 12:25 PM

Growing up in Oshkosh the blimp flew over our house constantly every summer during the EAA airshow. Very cool!

**SS Minnow** · 11-22-2020, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by David - WI

Growing up in Oshkosh the blimp flew over our house constantly every summer during the EAA airshow. Very cool!

Does the blimp still go to the air show? Last time I was there I do not remember seeing it. I think the last time I was there was 2013. It was the year that the Blue Angels or Thunderbird's (forget which one) did not show because the president would not approve funding for it. Was still a good show, but you cannot beat those military fighters.

**FUJIMO** · 11-22-2020, 01:11 PM

...this thing just went low, right over my house. crap those things are monstrous!...

**FUJIMO** · 11-22-2020, 01:18 PM

...and this guy com'n at ya puts chills up & down your spine, afterburners while climbing. wow, shutters your body & the whole neighborhood...

**CUDA** · 11-22-2020, 01:25 PM

One of my sisters use to live in Pompano Beach not far from their home base

My niece became so intrigued with them she became a helicopter pilot, she runs a insurance company but takes time off to deliver new helicopters and will do anything to get flight time she said it's the most exhilarating thing she has ever done, a true passion.

https://www.rd.com/article/why-you-d...limps-anymore/

**Li'l Toy** · 11-22-2020, 08:17 PM

Flies over my house all of the time, I guess en route from Joe Robbie stadium back to blimp base. Saw it after the Dolphin Thursday night game, interestingly not with the Goodyear sign all lit up. I would guess it is lower than 2000 feet. One crashed (to the extent a blimp can crash) in Coral Springs (town NW of Fort Lauderdale) in bad weather a few years back.

**Li'l Toy** · 11-22-2020, 08:21 PM

Fujimo--were you around for the first or second Air and Sea Show, where show center was down farther south and the Tomcat did a 200' buzz down the beach maybe 200' offshore? My kids and I were there for that--I saw the beach umbrellas, chairs and empty coolers lifting up and blowing across A1A North of us as the plane came towards us and warned the kids--incredibly impressive. Listening to an Admiral do an interview for the show many years later I learned the Tomcat pilot was put on the beach for a year.

**FUJIMO** · 11-22-2020, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by Li'l Toy

Fujimo--were you around for the first or second Air and Sea Show, where show center was down farther south and the Tomcat did a 200' buzz down the beach maybe 200' offshore? My kids and I were there for that--I saw the beach umbrellas, chairs and empty coolers lifting up and blowing across A1A North of us as the plane came towards us and warned the kids--incredibly impressive. Listening to an Admiral do an interview for the show many years later I learned the Tomcat pilot was put on the beach for a year.

...Wow, glad there is someone else that was there for that! the wife and i were talking about that today, as we do every year, lol. that was incredible. ya had to be there, right?! it was either the first or second year of the "Shell Air & Sea Show". we were there. they had a quite a few bleacher seats set up for local important people to sit on at the south end of the ft. lauderdale strip, right on the sand. (i want to laugh just thinking about it) ...of course everything was free back then, not like it is today. the guy comes down in what...and F-16 or something...and does a "really" slow nose up, and long, stall...right above the shallow ocean water there...right in front of the mayor's, etc., bleachers. it blew everything, and everybody right out of there! ...and the sound! OMG! it was the same year or two that they also went low over the beach in multiple passes, with the afterburners full on! BIG NO-NO. it busted out a lot of windows in the buildings on the beach. they nixed all that the very next year, which was a bummer, lol. the shell sponsored shows the first few years were the very best. when was the first year, do you remember?