Blimp Watch
Blimp arrives for overnight stay in Hobbs
CURTIS C. WYNNENEWS-SUN
Cynthia Hawkins brought two grandsons, Creed Cox, left, and Hudson Hair to see the Goodyear blimp that landed at the Lea County Regional Airport Tuesday around 1:15 p.m. The blimp was scheduled to lift off this morning on its way to Fort Worth where Hudson’s younger brother Hunter expects to see it today. The family was preparing to go swimming when they learned the blimp was going to touch down in 10 minutes.
Judith and Harold Sherrill, preparing to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary, took time out to view the Goodyear blimp at the Lea County Regional Airport Tuesday. Harold Sherrill said he’s a lifelong Hobbsan, but Judith said she first saw a blimp in the Midwest where she lived when she was 6 years old.
Goodyear blimp Wingfoot Two sat down at the Lea County Regional Airport at about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, to the delight of young and old. Spectators scattered from along U.S. 62-180, down the airport entrance road and into the airport parking lot.
The airship spent Tuesday night here for a brief stopover before continuing on to Fort Worth today.
Some people gathered in the 90-degree heat along the security fence while many others simply watched from their air-conditioned vehicles.
Cynthia Hawkins was one fence line spectator with her two grandsons.
“We were getting ready to go swimming when my son, a pilot, called and said the blimp would be landing in 10 minutes,” Hawkins said. “We jumped in the car and headed this way.”
She noted a bit of irony as grandson Hudson Hair, age 6, and an older grandson, Creed Cox, stared at Goodyear’s most recent testament to technology.
“Hudson’s brother (5-year-old Hunter) is in Fort Worth now, with their parents,” Hawkins said. “Tomorrow, he’s going to get to see it, too.”
Technically an airship, not a blimp — although Goodyear officials say they encourage continuing the blimp moniker for cultural reasons — the vessel is traveling from its home base in Carson, Calif., near Los Angeles to Suffield, Ohio, near Akron, for required annual maintenance.
The revised schedule places the airship/blimp in Fort Worth this evening for another overnight stay. It was due to remain in Hobbs only overnight, lifting off early this morning.
Goodyear revised the schedule when the craft’s trip, originally putting the blimp in Hobbs three days ago, was delayed by thunderstorms over Arizona, according to Goodyear spokesman Daniel Smith.
Smith had told the News-Sun last week the weather plays a great part in how and when the blimp flies.
“Everything we do is based on the weather,” he said. “The winds, the temperature, everything has an effect on the helium inside.”
But he said Goodyear believes it’s important to fly the company’s three blimps, normally moored at hangars in California, Florida and Ohio.
“This thing doesn’t do us any good when we’re on the ground,” he said. “We like to fly. We like to see the country. We’re ambassadors for Goodyear, so the more of the country we get to see, the more people who get to see the blimp, whether it’s flying overhead or moored in a city like Hobbs.”
Smith was speaking of both older people who are nostalgic, having seen it as kids, and the younger generations who get to have the experience for the first time.
Down the fence line from Hunter and Creed were a couple of the older variety.
Hobbsans Harold and Judith Sherrill, who said they’re about to observe their 60th wedding anniversary, took in the view from a different angle.
“The first blimp I saw was when I was 6 years old,” Judith Sherrill said, noting she lived in the Midwest near Goodyear’s home plant in those days.
Then, she lifted the binoculars to her eyes for a closer look.