Goodyear Blimp Wingfoot 2 N2A

[poormr]

Keep an eye to the sky and your scanner for the Goodyear Blimp (Wingfoot 2 N2A) as it travels from the west coast to their home base operations in Suffield, Ohio. Last fall as it traveled to the west coast, the blimp had a support crew of 26 people and 9 ground vehicles. Today the blimp is at Fayetteville, Ak.


Their schedule is as follows:

Fayetteville Regional Airport, Fayetteville, Ak
St Louis Regional Airport, Alton, Ill
Indianapolis Regional Airport, Greenfield, In
Wingfoot Airship Operations, Suffield, Oh

Unconfirmed frequencies:
151.6250
465.9125
465.9375
465.9625
123.0500
123.2500
132.0000

 

[CincyKid]

I didn't notice any information on its planned day/date of reaching its destination in Ohio. There are thunderstorms predicted along the blimp's route this weekend. I wonder how much those might delay its arrival?

 

[poormr]

Today (Monday 7/23) the blimp will be flying from St Louis Regional Airport, Alton, Ill to Indianapolis Regional Airport, Greenfield, In. Depending on weather, the blimp will fly tomorrow from Ind. to their base in Ohio.

 

[jasonhouk]

I was up at Marion's Union Station and captured it.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[wa8pyr]

I'd be a bit nervous flying an oversized gas bag through nasty looking clouds like that. . .

I was up at Marion's Union Station and captured it.

 

[marcotor]

I'd be a bit nervous flying an oversized gas bag through nasty looking clouds like that. . .

They do have frames now, defined as a semi-rigid airship, which actually allows greater loading than a rigid (Zeppelin) airship would.

 

[mszabo2000]

N2A was on the ground in Suffield Saturday morning.

 

[Cepheid]

So cool! There is a soft spot in my heart for the Goodyear blimp. All those TV shots during football games...

 

[dlwtrunked]

Keep an eye to the sky and your scanner for the Goodyear Blimp (Wingfoot 2 N2A) as it travels from the west coast to their home base operations in Suffield, Ohio. Last fall as it traveled to the west coast, the blimp had a support crew of 26 people and 9 ground vehicles. Today the blimp is at Fayetteville, Ak.


Their schedule is as follows:

Fayetteville Regional Airport, Fayetteville, Ak
St Louis Regional Airport, Alton, Ill
Indianapolis Regional Airport, Greenfield, In
Wingfoot Airship Operations, Suffield, Oh

Unconfirmed frequencies:
151.6250
465.9125
465.9375
465.9625
123.0500
123.2500
132.0000

Goodyear has licenses for several ~123 MHz frequencies and UNICOM (not all of them are listed above) to talk to ground crews but none of the others above and no others (except some for TV links that I cannot find at the moment and of course regular ATC which would not appear in the FCC database). Keep in mind that local "users" of the blimps may have they own licenses.
KA97612 122.7, 122.725, 122.8, 122.9, 122.95, 123.0, 123.05, 123.075, 123.6.

I lived in Suffield 2 mile from Goodyear Wingfoot Lake blimp operations for 20 years. Hearing at least one in the sky meant a normal day and I can still recognize the sound from inside the house here in Virginia when one flies over going down I-95. When we first moved there, the road along the airfield had "No Stopping" with a national defense warning. Those are long gone and replaced by a parking lot for watching the blimp but that gate is open only when there is activity to watch but does seem to be open much of the time during landings and take offs. They used to have a radar near where Wingfoot Lake Rd. meets Ohio Rt. 43, another on Waterloo Rd. on the north side of the hill west of where the railroad tracks cross Waterloo Rd. There were other radar locations way back then but nothing remains of any of them.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Attached is a photo of N2A on the ground at Suffield Wingfoot Lake from 2016.

 

[mszabo2000]

N2 on the ground, N1 landing on Saturday

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[W8SQY]

Wow Mike ! Good pix !

I guess I'll trad in my Nikon for a smartphone.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Hard to sort through the FCC files to find a complete list (except digital TV links) of licenses for Goodyear "blimp" operations . I missed the last license before for some reason and that explains what others have heard.

WPPG800
LP - Broadcast Auxiliary Low Power (wireless microphones)

Frequency
Output
Power
Maximum ERP
(Emission Designator 20K0F3E)
000174.00000000-000216.00000000 10 0.500
000450.00000000-000451.00000000 10 1.000
000455.00000000-000456.00000000 10 1.000
(Emission Designator 20K0F3E 20K0F3E)
000470.00000000-000608.00000000 10 0.250
000614.00000000-000698.00000000 10 0.500
000944.00000000-000952.00000000 10 1.000


KA97612
MOU1
Output Power 10 W

Frequency
000121.60000000-000121.92500000
000122.70000000
000122.72500000
000122.80000000
000122.90000000
000122.95000000
000122.97500000
000123.00000000
000123.05000000
000123.07500000
000123.60000000

WPPH287
MOL

Frequency
Output
Maximum ERP

Frequency
(Emission Designator 20K0F3E)
000027.49000000 35.000 35.000
000035.04000000 35.000 35.000
000043.04000000 35.000 35.000
000151.50500000 35.000 35.000
(Emission Designator 11K3F3E)
000151.51250000 35.000 35.000
000151.62500000 35.000 35.000
000151.70000000 35.000 35.000
000151.76000000 35.000 35.000
000154.52750000 35.000 35.000
000158.40000000 35.000 35.000
000158.40750000 35.000 35.000
000451.80000000 35.000 35.000
000451.81250000 2.000 2.000
000456.80000000 35.000 35.000
000456.81250000 2.000 2.000
000464.50000000 35.000 35.000
000464.55000000 35.000 35.000
000469.50000000 2.000 2.000
000469.55000000 2.000 2.000

 

[poormr]

Goodyear blimp 2A is headed to their west coast base starting today (wed 10/10). It flew over Marion County, Ohio this morning headed to their first stop at Greenfield, Ind.