Number 10 Goodyear Blimp Crash, 2011 In 2011, the pilot of a Goodyear blimp
lost his life following a crash in Germany. A fire broke out as 53-year-old Michael Nerandzic was
preparing to land at the Reichelsheim aerodrome, near Friedberg. In an act of selfless heroism, the
Australian pilot remained behind the controls in order to save the blimp’s passengers and protect
the ground crew. He brought the helium-filled airship within roughly 6 feet of the ground
and told its three passengers, all journalists, to jump out. They did so and escaped with their
lives. However, the sudden shift in weight caused the blimp to ascend rapidly. Nerandzic
knew this would happen but kept piloting and even managed to steer the burning aircraft from
the ground crew. The blimp soared then burst into flames before crashing to the ground.
In the aftermath of his passing, Nerandzic was widely commended for his actions.
Number 9 1994 Blimp Incident in Germany In May of 1994, a WDL-1B blimp was preparing to
land in Giessen, Germany. The weather conditions for the landing appeared favorable, as the airship
was approaching the ground. A sudden gust of wind then lifted the blimp into the air once more.
Ten members of the ground crew tried to stabilize the airship and keep it on the ground by holding
on to ropes. The lift, however, proved too strong and they were forced to let go. Two of the crewmen
failed to do so in time. They rose with the blimp and subsequently fell to their deaths.
Number 8 Crash of the USS Akron When considering the sheer loss of life,
the crash of the USS Akron is the deadliest airship disaster to have ever occurred. The
USS Akron was one of the largest man-made objects ever flown and a record holder for helium-based
airships. It was designed as the world’s first flying aircraft carrier, for the purpose of
launching Sparrowhawk fighter planes. On the morning of April the 4th of 1933, the Akron was
caught in extremely powerful winds while passing over Barnegat Light, New Jersey. The crew lost
control of the airship as the violent air currents ravaged its massive frame. A combination of an
updraft followed almost immediately by a downdraft would end up reducing the Akron’s altitude. Then,
at about 800 feet, a powerful gust pushed it further down. Its gondola was still hundreds of
feet in the air but its tail fin struck the water and was torn off. From that point on, the airship
rapidly broke apart and crashed into the raging waters of the Atlantic. Only 3 of the 76 crew
and passengers aboard survived as they were rescued by a passing German merchant ship.
Number 7 Model Airplane Punctures Blimp In 1990, a man was arrested for deliberately
puncturing a Goodyear blimp with a radio-controlled model airplane.
28-year-old John William Moyer was in a field, in Carson, California, where model plane enthusiasts
regularly gathered. As the airship passed over the vacant field, Moyer flew his Thunder Tiger around
its envelope, 7 or 8 times. He then guided the airplane, which had a 4-foot wingspan, directly
into the blimp. The collision inflicted a large tear that caused the blimp to start deflating,
forcing its pilot to make an emergency landing. Fortunately, none of the 7 people aboard were
hurt. As Moyer fled the scene, witnesses recorded his license plate and then relayed the information
to the authorities. He was arrested at his home, where the damaged Thunder Tiger was also found.
The man was jailed and held on a $5,000 bail. He was ultimately charged with one count each of
felony vandalism, damage to an aircraft rendering it unsafe and assault by means of force likely to
produce bodily injury. The maximum sentence held by these charges was 4 years in a state prison.
Number 6 1960 New Jersey Airship Crash N-Class blimps were non-rigid airships built by
Goodyear, for the US Navy, in the 1950s and early 1960s. These models included configurations for
airborne detection and anti-submarine warfare. The ZPG-3W was actually the largest non-rigid airship
ever flown. It was over 400 feet long, meaning it was larger than a football field, and 120
feet high, or about half as tall as a Giant Sequoia tree. It had an envelope volume capacity
of 1,500,000 feet, roughly 17 times that of an Olympic swimming pool. Its envelope worked as a
dome for a massive antenna that was exceptionally well-suited for detecting other aircraft.
On July the 6th of 1960, a horrific crash off the coast of New Jersey would send the massive blimp
into early retirement. At the time, the ZPG-3W was reportedly on a mission to search for a
missing yacht. It crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, several miles from Barnegat Inlet. One crewman,
who was asleep as the blimp went down, awoke to find the gondola filling with water. He grabbed a
piece of jagged metal and cut his way through the envelope to reach the surface. Only 2 others, of
the 21 men that were aboard, survived the crash. Number 5 Dixmude Crash
The Dixmude was a Zeppelin airship, initially designed by the Imperial German Navy
and designated L 72. At the end of World War I, it was given to the French Navy, as part
of war reparations, and renamed Dixmude. The last message from the airship came in December of 1923,
as it was flying off the coast of Sicily. The crew communicated that it would be reeling in the
ship’s radio antenna to keep it from being damaged in a thunderstorm. A hunter on the Sicilian shore
would later report seeing a flash of lightning hit a cloud, followed by a red glare and four objects
falling into the sea. The Dixmude had sustained a devastating lightning strike. The airship’s 42
crewmen and 10 passengers all perished. Debris from the airship washed ashore the following
day but the French government suppressed news of the crash for several days before
finally acknowledging it. The disaster was the first of the 20th century’s devastating airship
crashes and the second-deadliest in history. Number 4 Pilot Falls to His Death
In 1995, blimp pilot Keith Hirsch fell to his death in Hayward, California. At the time,
Hirsch was giving piloting lessons to Joseph Anton, a member of the ground crew. The blimp
suddenly lost power as it approached land. It floated down to the edge of the Hayward air field
and bounced off the grass a few times. Hirsch and Anton got out and tried to hold down the blimp.
As it started to gain air again, Anton lost his grip but Hirsch rose with the blimp while
gripping a bar attached to the exterior of the cage. He desperately tried to get back inside,
until he couldn’t hold on any longer. The 37-year-old pilot fell 200 feet onto the concrete
runway below. He was killed instantly. The blimp rose, uncontrolled, to roughly 10,000 feet.
A park service helicopter was called in and it used the wind of its rotors to push the airship
down to a remote ravine. Number 3 R101
The R101 was developed by the British, in the early 1920s, as a civil airship capable of
covering long distances across the Empire. The airship left the production line with engines
that were twice as heavy and half as powerful. To remedy its various issues and increase lifting,
the ship was lengthened by 46 feet so that another gasbag could be added. The gasbags rubbed against
the framework, causing massive leakage of lifting gas. In the rush to perform a flight to India,
the problem wasn’t properly mended. During its maiden overseas flight, in October of 1930,
the R101 crashed in France. Against expert recommendations, it had been flown full-power into
a storm. It hit the ground at the edge of a forest and the hydrogen immediately erupted into flames.
48 of the 54 people aboard were killed, including almost all of the designers
from Royal Airship Works. The crash effectively marked the end of the British airship program.
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Number 2 Crashes of 1944
At the time of World War II, in 1944, the US Navy lost a number of K-class blimps.
These non-rigid airships had twin air-cooled engines mounted on each side of a control car that
hung underneath the envelope. Built before and during the war, they were tasked with air patrol
and used extensively in anti-submarine operations. The Goodyear-built airships basically hunted down
enemy submarines and destroyed them by dropping depth charges. Their service, in the later stages
of the war, was marked by disaster. On July the 2nd, a blimp crashed off the coast of Maine.
6 of its 10 crewmen perished in what was either a piloting error or machine gun fire from a
German submarine. The surviving crewmen, which had clung to the wreck’s fins for hours before
being rescued, were ordered not to disclose any details regarding the crash. Witnesses, however,
reported hearing explosions and gunfire prior to the crash. The blimp’s salvaged gondola and
envelope presented evidence of gunfire. That same month, another blimp went down in the Caribbean,
presumably due to engine failure, killing 1 of its crewmen. The fall of 1944 was marked by two
more K-class blimp crashes. The first occurred in October, on California’s Catalina Island,
and the second in early November, off the coast of Georgia. The combined death toll
of these incidents was 9 crewmen. Number 1 Hindenburg Crash
The LZ-129 Hindenburg was not only the longest class of aircraft ever flown but also,
by envelope volume, the largest airship in history. The 800-foot Hindenburg was a rigid
airship, meaning that the shape of its envelope was maintained by framework and not by pressure
alone. It was the pearl of the Zeppelin Company, meant to usher in a new era of air travel with
Nazi Germany at the forefront. The massive airship would, instead, become synonymous with disaster
and mark the abrupt end of airship travel. On May the 3rd of 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt
and embarked on a transatlantic flight for New Jersey, with 97 people aboard. When it arrived,
on May the 6th, a violent blaze erupted on the airship as it was attempting to dock with its
mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The fire expanded rapidly and consumed the Hindenburg
along with several of its crew and passengers. It burst through the airship’s nose as it crashed to
the ground in a gigantic fireball. 35 lives were lost in what would become the most notorious
airship disaster in history. Various hypotheses have been put forward as to what had ignited the
ship’s hydrogen core. The most prominent include a static spark, sabotage or a lightning strike.
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