Zondagavond 12 juni 2011 is op het vliegveld Reichelsheim Airfield, ten noordoosten van Frankfurt de Goodyear Blimp G-TLEL gecrasht. De piloot is daarbij helaas om het leven gekomen. Kort voor de fatale crash heeft de piloot de aanwezige passagiers op 2 meter hoogte uit de gondel laten springen. Dit werd hun redding. Zij raakten niet gewond. De Blimp is daarna, door het verlies aan gewicht, gestegen naar een hoogte van ongeveer 50 meter. De brand die ontstaan was kon de piloot daardoor niet ontkomen. Het luchtschip, gevuld met Helium, is geheel vernield.
Wrang genoeg was dit luchtschip genaamd “Spirit of Safety II”.
Deze Blimp was vorige maand nog in Nederland te zien. Hij was onder andere een week op vliegveld Hilversum gestationeerd.
Hieronder het officiële statement van Goodyear over dit ongeval.
13th June 2011 – 2215hrs CET – Company Statement.
An airship – owned and operated by Lightship Europe Limited (LEL) – caught fire at Reichelsheim Airfield in Germany on Sunday evening.
One member of the LEL flight crew suffered fatal injuries. His relatives have been informed. There were no injuries to passengers or ground crew. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the LEL crew member and the passengers on the flight.
The airship was one of two chartered from LEL for marketing purposes in Europe.
The second airship has been withdrawn from service until further notice.
As is customary in incidents involving aircraft, the aviation and local authorities have initiated an investigation.
Goodyear can not speculate on causes.
Airships have a very good safety record. Goodyear has owned and operated airships in the United States for more than 85 years and never seriously injured a passenger.
In addition, third party vendors, such as LEL, have operated aircraft for Goodyear for more than 15 years without serious incident.