You may think that flying a blimp would be simple, but it takes an incredible amount of science and physics to handle a 20,000-pound aircraft that takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane and floats like a boat.
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00:00I think people think that it's really simple and rudimentary, and it's not.
00:03Known by his team as Doc, Michael Dockery is chief pilot for Goodyear.
00:08He's been flying a blimp for over 18 years.
00:11Dockery says it takes a team of 20 people and a lot of science and physics to keep the
00:16blimp in the air.
00:17We do use tools like AccuWeather pretty consistently, among other things, to make sure that the
00:22airship stays safe in all of its operations.
00:26The most complex aircraft out there.
00:28The pilots check winds, pressure, humidity, as well as local and regional conditions before
00:34takeoff.
00:35The whole aircraft weighs 20,000 pounds.
00:36We have to stay plus or minus about 600 to 800 pounds maximum for a static takeoff weight,
00:42which means the helium is lifting 98 percent of that 20,000 pounds, and the engines are
00:46just lifting the last few hundred pounds.
00:48It was time for a ride on the Wingfoot 2 airship.
00:51They steered her into the wind like a 250-foot windsock, and we floated over the Daytona
00:57500.
00:58It feels just like riding in a weather balloon.
01:01The Goodyear blimp can hold two and a half million gallons of helium.
01:04That's enough to fill three Olympic-sized pools, and it lifts like a helicopter, flies
01:09like an airplane, and floats like a boat.
01:12It's not called an airship for nothing.
01:15It's like a ship in the sky.
01:16So we ride the airwaves just like a boat on the ocean would ride over the water.
01:21How does the massive airship stay in the sky?
01:24Well, think about a boat's hull.
01:27It displaces water, making it buoyant in the water.
01:30Like the hull of a boat, the helium in the airship displaces the heavier air around it,
01:35making it buoyant in the sky.
01:37Putting all those things together makes it one of the most challenging things I've ever
01:40learned to fly.
01:41Reporting for AccuWeather, I'm Kelly Searing.