The winds of change transform the airship industry, as Goodyear switches from blimps to Zeppelins

Later this month, Goodyear will launch its newest airship, the 75-metre, nine-tonne Wingfoot Three, out of a hangar in Akron, Ohio.

It’s a big deal, and not just in the literal, bigger-than-most-jumbo-jets sense.

It’s the culmination of a seven-year effort to break from the company’s century-long tradition of blimp-making and to adopt sleek, modern airships designed by Germany’s Zeppelin conglomerate. In short, Goodyear is getting out of the blimp business.

The most impressive part? Goodyear has undertaken the biggest US airship-pilot training programme since second world war. And that’s huge, because airships are tricky – even veteran pilots need a year or more to learn the ropes.

Very few of them have. Only 128 people are qualified to fly airships in the US, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Aside from contractors and experimental pilots, we count that about 17 of them are paid to do it full time. And 13 of them fly for Goodyear.

The others fly for AirSign, which has operated the blimps advertising MetLife and DirecTV. AirSign operates only one airship at present, but it has 14 blimps and a pool of trained pilots on standby.