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The Last Goodyear Wingfoot Blimp Takes Flight

Goodyear christened Wingfoot Three this week, the last in its line of modern airships. 

Spanning almost a football field, the massive blimp took to the sky in what’s become a familiar sight in Northeast Ohio. 

Shaesta Waiz, the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a single engine plane, did the honors of christening the blimp with a bottle of champagne. 

She said there’s a long line of female aviators dedicating Goodyear’s airships, including Amelia Earhart.

"And now to be following her steps, I keep pinching myself. This is all happening because I had the courage to go after my dreams. It’s so unreal. It’s really an honor," Waiz said.

Like its two siblings, Wingfoot Three was built by the German company Zeppelinand shipped to Ohio in pieces for assembly.

This marks the last of Goodyear’s modern fleet of airships, which the company launched in 2014.

The blimps are based in Akron, California and Florida.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd3xwbtNE3k

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Goodyear's Wingfoot Three rises above the crowd.
Mark Arehart / WKSU
/
WKSU
Goodyear's Wingfoot Three rises above the crowd.

Mark has been a host, reporter and producer at several NPR member stations in Delaware, Alaska, Washington and Kansas. His reporting has taken him everywhere from remote islands in the Bering Sea to the tops of skyscrapers overlooking Puget Sound. He is a diehard college basketball fan who enjoys taking walks with his dog, Otis.