Closed-toe footwear? Verify. Baggage on the bottom? Verify. Cellphone in airplane mode? Verify. Why all this prep? I took a trip on the Goodyear Blimp, y’all, and frolicked with a pilot who dressed like one.
On Wednesday, Goodyear and Spirit Halloween dropped a brand new collaboration for 2026: the Goodyear Blimp is formally a dressing up possibility this season. Whilst you might make a DIY model if you need (we love cosplayers over right here), you ought to pop up at a celebration on this $80 inflatable that has Goodyear’s stamp of approval. No papier-mache, metallic tape, glue gun or stitching machine wanted.
I had an opportunity to preview the brand new costume a couple of weeks forward of launch, and together with that, climbed aboard the precise blimp when it stopped in Atlanta. I joined a couple of different members of the media who have been invited to drift within the clouds to rejoice the rollout, as a result of for the primary time ever, the well-known airship is now a retail-ready Halloween costume. Designed with a battery pack and cooling fan, it comes with a cap and a one-piece, one-size-fits-all ensemble for adults.
Tethered to the bottom at a neighborhood airport, the Goodyear Blimp seemed large up shut, the place a crew held the levitating ladder for us as we climbed inside one after the other. Two pilots, Jeff Capek and Fayth Rascon-Ryn, have been seated on the controls, able to fly us across the outskirts of town. Like on an airplane flight, we have been instructed to buckle our seat belts for takeoff. Slowly and steadily, the airship ascended upward, after which we started our trip, hitting a most velocity of round 35 miles per hour. Outfitted with home windows throughout, the gondola allowed for some nice photographs of the skyline, native surroundings under and even the little propellers on the blimp.
Our information and crew member, Jensen Kervern (who’s additionally a pilot), hit the runway — on the tarmac and contained in the ship’s gondola — to mannequin the costume whereas sharing historical past and info in regards to the ubiquitous blimp with us passengers. What you could acknowledge because the helium-filled “massive half” of the blimp is named the envelope, and its stress is maintained by two ballonets that additionally preserve the ship stage and upright. In the event you’re interested in helium refills, she shared that it’s replenished over time and filtered when grounded at residence base.
“Once we’re at residence, we’ll hook it as much as an enormous machine — a air purifier — that operates rather a lot like a dialysis machine. It’ll pull out all of the impurities and put the helium again inside. We attempt to reuse it; it’s a finite useful resource that’s very costly,” mentioned Kervern. She additionally graciously snapped a couple of images with us.
As you could think about, your Spirit Halloween costume received’t come outfitted with any helium for added drifting impact, however it does have a battery-operated fan to maintain it aloft. I hope the visuals and particulars I’ve shared from my expertise can lend a bit razzle-dazzle to your inventive Halloween aspirations. And yeah, it actually does really feel such as you’re floating on air.
Take a look at the Goodyear Blimp costume at Spirit Halloween’s web site.
See full bio
