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The term Goodyear Blimp has traditionally referred to any one of a fleet of airships operated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, used mainly for advertising and capturing aerial views of live sporting events on television. The term blimp itself is defined as a – without any internal structure, the pressure of lifting gas contained within the airship envelope maintains the vessel's shape. Since the launch of the ''Pilgrim'' in 1925, Goodyear has generally owned and operated airships of this type in its global public relations fleet. However, Goodyear is currently in the process of replacing its three U.S. ''non-rigid'' airships (blimps) with three new ''semi-rigid'' airships, each of which will have a rigid internal frame. Although technically incorrect, Goodyear plans to use "blimp" in reference to these new semi-rigid models.〔 ''Wingfoot One'', the first such model in Goodyear's U.S. fleet, was christened on August 23, 2014, near the company's world headquarters in Akron, Ohio. ==Airship fleet== There is currently one blimp (non-rigid airships) and one semi-rigid airship in Goodyear's U.S. airship fleet:〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.goodyearblimp.com/cfmx/web/blimp/fleet/goodyear.cfm )〕 *''Spirit of Innovation'' (N4A), a blimp/non-rigid airship (model GZ-20A), based in Carson, California *''Wingfoot One'' (N1A), a semi-rigid airship (model LZ N07-101), based in Suffield Township, Ohio "Columbia" was based in Carson, California and "America" in Spring, north of Houston, Texas from 1969 - 1991. Goodyear relocated "America" to Akron for cost cutting measures. The Houston blimps wintered in Houston and spent the summer traveling North America.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Remember the Goodyear blimp? )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search )〕 All three craft are outfitted with LED sign technology Goodyear calls "Eaglevision." This allows the aircraft to display bright, multi-colored, animated words and images. Goodyear also has blimps operating in other parts of the world. These airships are built and operated by Van Wagner of Orlando, Florida, In May 2011 Goodyear announced it will be replacing its fleet of blimps with three semi-rigid airships built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Goodyear blimps to be replaced by German Zeppelins )〕 The new airships are 246 feet long, 52 feet longer than the current blimps. The Zeppelin NT model is also slimmer, has a top speed of 70 miles per hour (versus 50 for the blimp), and has a passenger gondola that seats 12 (compared to seven in the blimp). The gondola even has a bathroom. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Goodyear Blimp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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