Goodyear Blimp offers birds eye view of Tupelo for passengers
Aug. 10—TUPELO — Edwin Almanzar flew into Tupelo for the first time from a unique perspective on Thursday — he was one of the pilots of Wingfoot Two, one of the iconic Goodyear Blimps, which tethered at Tupelo Airport on Wednesday.
"It's a beautiful place around here," he said. "It's our first time here to come to this area, and we love it. It's lots of green. All the people we've run into have been great."
The nearly 250-foot-long airship was visiting Tupelo to provide some flights over the city for selected Cooper Tire employees. Goodyear, Cooper Tire's parent company, said it was a show of appreciation for the hard work the 1,700 employees at the plant did to recover from the April 1 storm that damaged the Tupelo plant and kept it out of commission for two months.
Among those picked in a plantwide drawing to ride the airship was JC Coggins, a 22-year veteran of the plant.
"I've flown in a plane, but I've never been in a blimp," he said. "I'm looking forward to it ... it's a good deal for us because it was tough night out there during that storm."
But not everyone who got their name drawn was as excited as Coggins.
"No, some of them aren't going to go; fear of heights I guess," he said.
The first flights at 10 a.m. were pushed back because of rain. While the airship can fly in a downpour, the water adds weight, and the passenger load has to be lightened.
The Goodyear Blimp wasn't able to remain tethered in Tupelo long; it had to head out to Memphis to help cover the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf tournament.
As for Tupelo, Almanzar said the Goodyear Blimp crew noticed many people taking photos of the airship after it tethered at the airport Wednesday afternoon.
"We noticed a lot of people along the fence, which is what we want to see," he said. "Our aircraft is so different, and it causes a lot of attention."
It's definitely easy to spot. Wingfoot Two, which along with Wingfoot One and Wingfoot Three, weighs about 10 tons and can move as fast as 73 mph. It has a maximum capacity of 14 people, but for riding purposes, there are only 10 seats available.
"We want them to be comfortable and be able to move around," said Almanzar, who has been with Goodyear for nearly three years, but before joining the company had flown similar airships for eight years.
As for Coggins, he said flying high above Tupelo in the world-famous Goodyear Blimp was something he'd never forget.
"(It was) a very cool experience," he said.
