“Once you get into a cool job like this, why would you leave” says Dave Spratley after nine and a half years as an aircraft maintenance technician for Goodyear Airship Operations. Last week during the EAA 2012 AirVenture in Oshkosh Wisconsin, I had the privilege of spending time with some of the AMTs for the Goodyear blimp. The ground crew consisted of 16 people; 6 of which were AMTs, along with 4 pilots, and 1 public relations manager.
Ron Heaps, holder of an A&P/IA, has been part of the Goodyear crew for 20 of his 21 years in aviation. According to Heaps when touring with the ship they accomplish prefight checks each day, and 50-hour inspections consisting of the usual oil and filter changes on the blimps two 210-horsepower engines, along with a variety of inspection tasks specific to some of the blimp's unique mechanical components. In addition to specific duties all crew are trained in ground handling duties such as passenger loading, launch and landing procedures, and the around-the-clock rotation for the static watch and pressure watch when the ship is moored for extended periods or at night.
When this blimp is not touring the United States it resides in a large hangar large in Akron, OH. Heaps explains they generally accomplish the major maintenance and the annual inspection in the month of January. Maintenance tasks include the rigging checks on all the flight and engine controls, and specific maintenance tasks on the ships numerous air and helium valves.
When asked about one of the more interesting maintenance tasks, Heaps says, “Removing envelope fabric samples for integrity testing.” He goes on to explain that each year they remove from the envelope two 12-inch diameter samples of the envelope material for integrity testing. The interesting part is as they remove the test sample, they simultaneously bond in place the first replacement layer in order to eliminate large amounts of helium from escaping. Once the first layer is installed additional layers of material are bonded to the envelope resulting in a very strong permanent repair. He adds this is all accomplished from a chair on an overhead hoist or a man-lift.
Heaps says of the best parts of his job are the travel and team spirit that come with being part of the Goodyear Airship Operations crew. Steven Dauster, one of the maintenance technicians and holder of an A&P, joined the group in 2010. His comment about being part of the Goodyear team was, “It’s all very unique.”
For more information visit www.goodyearblimp.com/cfmx/web/blimp/
