Goodyear Blimp

A close encounter with the Goodyear Blimp.

I’ve was always fascinated by the Goodyear Blimp. When I was a kid living in Glendale Arizona in the 60’s we were near a Goodyear Blimp base. I’m relying on mostly a childhood memory here but I remember seeing it and often.

When we settled in Houston area in the late 60’s Goodyear Blimp had a base North of Houston. As an adult my family and I lived in Northwest Houston. The interesting part of this story we were in the flight corridor the Blimp traveled when it was airborne.

It flew directly over our home every time going and coming. Since we weren’t far from the airport the blimp would often fly lower than it’s normal operating altitude because of the airspace. If you’ve ever seen it in operation up close it was just a beautiful flying machine with is blinking digital lights.

On this particular occasion the Goodyear blimp was headed towards its base. We knew it was coming because we could hear it and it was low. It was night and I retrieved a strong flashlight and proceeded to the backyard with my 10 year old son. I’m thinking this was the early 90’s.

I told my son we’re going to see if we can get the pilots attention. As it approached I was blinking out a message with the flashlight. To our surprise the pilot stopped his forward movement and answered us back with his spot light.

He was like only 100’ high. We got so excited and started jumping in excitement. My goodness it was so exciting. The Goodyear Blimp was parked in our backyard! He stopped just for us. We could hear the kids in the neighborhood screaming and running in our direction. After a few short minutes he throttled up his engines and resumed his forward movement.

I can’t tell you how very special it was. All I can say that airship pilot had a fun loving personality. We were so blessed he stopped just for us. We will always remember and be appreciative for that special encounter in Northwest Houston.