Battle of the Blimps : British Launch New S.F. Airship Service

A British airship-maker used the 50th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster Wednesday to launch what it claimed to be the first scheduled airship passenger service in the United States since the golden age of transatlantic dirigibles.

Before the second voyage left Oakland International Airport for a one-hour excursion over San Francisco Bay, however, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. stepped forward to try to let the air out of the Britishers’ blimp.

Goodyear spokesman Richard Sailer said in a telephone interview from Akron, Ohio, that his company offered commercial rides in one of its famous airships as recently as 1983--and for a lot less than the $150 an hour being charged in Oakland.

“I don’t know why Airship Industries is saying what it is,” Sailer said, “but anything they have done, Goodyear has done first.”

He said Goodyear offered half-an-hour rides three days a week on its Florida-based blimp for $7.50. The service was discontinued in 1983, he said, because “it was so popular, we were blowing out phone lines all over the state.”

Alix Cochrane, marketing vice president for Airship Industries, denied any comparison with the excursions offered by the two companies.

‘Regularly Scheduled Service’

“Theirs was not a regularly scheduled passenger service, like in the old days,” she said. “That is why our service is special: We operate on a fixed schedule.

“I’m not even sure what they were doing was legal, because it has taken us a long time to get (Federal Aviation Administration) certification.”

In addition, Airship Industries blimps are a bit bigger than their American cousins--194.7 feet long versus 192.5 feet for the three Goodyear airships. But the British aircraft carry a little less helium--6,666 cubic meters compared to 6,757. Despite this, the latest British blimps accommodate twice the number of passengers as Goodyear’s airships--13 versus six.

Goodyear and Airship Industries have been feuding at least since an Airship Industries aircraft leased for advertising purposes to Fuji Photo Film Co. was selected as the official blimp of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. A Goodyear blimp, meanwhile, was

brought in by police for security duty.

Blimps from both companies have engaged in aerial advertising combat since, including one bloodless dogfight over the Super Bowl in Pasadena last January. Airship Industries’ client, Fuji, won that battle by being chosen to carry the network TV camera, giving it exposure to the huge TV audience.

Advertising is important to the British firm, with eight of its nine blimps carrying ads. The soft-drink maker leasing the airship deployed here is paying $250,000 for two months--half the normal rate, Cochrane said.

Hindenburg Anniversary

Airship Industries chose to begin its airship service on the anniversary of the Hindenburg crash--a calamity that claimed 36 lives when the hydrogen-filled German zeppelin burned explosively while landing at Lakehurst, N.J.--to stress the safety of modern airships.

“We figured the press would mention it anyway,” Cochrane said, “so why not confront it . . . and point out the safety advancements? Riding around in a ship filled with helium is a lot safer than riding around in one filled with hydrogen.”

Indeed, unlike explosive hydrogen, the helium used in modern lighter-than-air vessels will not burn. The collapsible gas envelope is made of polyester, and the gondola, or passenger compartment, is made of Kevlar-epoxy composites similar to materials used in bulletproof vests.

The new airship also is considerably smaller than the Hindenburg and other early passenger craft. Those vehicles contained rigid frames within their gas envelopes, and could reach over 700 feet in length and haul 90 people or more on luxurious transatlantic voyages lasting several days.