INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Thunderstorms to the south caused the iconic Goodyear Blimp crew to err on the side of caution and land in Vero Beach Monday morning, only a few hours short of their final destination in Pompano, Fla.
The team of 19 – a pilot, co-pilot, and a caravan of ground crew, were traveling back to their home base from the Daytona Coke Zero 400 race they attended over the weekend. The group has set up camp at the Vero Beach Municipal Airport and will remain there until sometime on Tuesday, once the weather clears.
In the mean time, what Jorge Bernal calls “the largest windsock you’ve ever seen,” will be pivoting by its nose around a single post between the airport’s runways.
Bernal works as an electronics technician for the blimp and has been with the company for approximately two years. He explained that it took all 17 ground crew members several minutes to assemble, anchor, and raise the pole that the blimp is now attached to before the pilots landed the aircraft.
A very small piece at the front most portion of the blimp called the “nose spindle” is the only point of contact the blimp has with its anchor, or anything else for that matter.
“Whichever direction the wind is blowing, that’s the way [the blimp] will be pointing,” Bernal said.
Crew members take shifts watching over the blimp and removing and loading 25-pound bags from a compartment in the airship’s “gondola” in order to ensure the blimp stays at the perfect weight: just heavy enough for its single tire to hover slightly off the ground.
If the blimp were to go unsupervised, it would run the risk of being swept up in a gust of wind and slammed back to the ground, Bernal said. From the time the blimp is built until the time it is decommissioned, the blimp will be monitored by one to two crew members, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Airport Director, Eric Menger, said Vero Beach was one of several Treasure Coast airports the blimp’s crew contacted for permission to land on Monday.
“We had the space available,” Menger said. “We coordinated between the pilot, me on the ground, and a controller in the tower.” He added the airport was able to provide the resting ground without any interference or visual block between the tower and other aircraft.
Tomorrow, the Helium-filled blimp will sail off again for Pompano at its typical speed between 30 and 50 knots, approximately 35 to 57 mph, at an altitude around 1,000 feet, Bernal said.
“It’s a low and slow type flight,” Bernal said. In comparison to cruising along in an airplane, “you get a much nicer view of the country you’re flying over.” When traveling over the coastline, like the pilots will do tomorrow, it’s even typical to see marine life including sharks, manatees, and large fish, from their floating cabin in the sky.
Those who catch a glimpse of blimp from below can expect a wave from the pilots, who often prefer to travel with their windows down.
