Blimp Pilot Usually Gets Best Seats, But Not Sunday

TAMPA - Marty Chandler says he has the best job in the world.

He has had the best seat in the house to college football games, along with professional golf and tennis tournaments. And he doesn't even need a ticket.

That's because Chandler's seat is 1,000 feet above major sporting events in a Goodyear blimp.

The 37-year-old pilot from Pompano Beach won't be gliding above Raymond James Stadium during Sunday's Super Bowl, however. A ban on commercial air traffic around the stadium also applies to blimps.

"It's the world in which we live in today," Chandler said this afternoon while taking in breathtaking views on a flight over Tampa. "I would love to fly over the game, but they shut that airspace down. I'll be watching the game on TV like everybody else this year."

The Spirit of Innovation, one the Goodyear tire company's three airships, is in town even though it won't be flying over the game. Today, however, was a different story, and Chandler flew over the stadium as the Arizona Cardinals were having their team photograph taken at Super Bowl Media Day.

Chandler, whose father was an Air Force pilot, has seen the beauty of fall in the mountains from a blimp's-eye view. And he has helped count manatees and seen the destruction from a hurricane.

But the high point — pun intended — of his blimp career is flying over football games at his alma mater, Auburn University.

"It's a very special job," he said. "I'm lucky to have it."

And it's a job that many people don't believe he has when someone asks what he does for a living. So often that he won't even waste time trying to convince people he is one of a handful of blimp pilots in the country.

"A lot of times I will say I sell tires, which is essentially what I am doing," he said.

Reporter Rob Shaw can be reached at [phone].