- Start
- May 15, 202590% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
Pathfinder 1 Flies Over San Francisco Bay
- Built in 1929 for the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, the 1,175ft Akron Airdock was the world's largest building without interior supports, raised to house the US Navy airships USS Akron and Macon.
- LTA Research, backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, used the Akron Airdock for a 15m proof-of-concept airship and is building the larger Pathfinder 3 there; Pathfinder 1 itself was built and is flown out of Hangar 2 at Moffett Field in California.
- Pathfinder 1 flew outside Moffett Federal Airfield for the first time on 15 May 2025, over San Francisco Bay, the first flight of a rigid airship of its size since the Graf Zeppelin II in 1939.
References 388% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]90%youtube.com/watch?v=Tmte0qRKF1Ayoutube.com· Posted Sep 14, 2026· Starts May 15, 2025 ✓· 69% of score
LTA Research's own update and IEEE Spectrum both date the first flight over San Francisco Bay to 15 May 2025: 'On 15 May, startup LTA Research flew its Pathfinder 1 airship outside Silicon Valley's Moffett Federal Airfield for the first time.'
- [2]87%Reinventing the Rigid Airship: LTA's Pathfinder 1 – Ideastream Public Mediaideastream.org· Published Nov 21, 2025· 22% of score
Ideastream Public Media (published 21 November 2025) discusses LTA Research's Pathfinder 1 in the context of Akron's airship heritage but does not confirm a specific flight from the Akron Airdock or give a matching date, making it background context rather than direct confirmation of the pin's stored 1 October 2025 date.
- [3]78%Airships may soon be built in Akron again – Federal Reserve Bank of Clevelandclevelandfed.org· Published Mar 26, 2025· 9% of score
The Cleveland Fed's district update (dated 26 March 2025) reports Pathfinder 1 was being tested in California while Akron's team supported future-airship development, not a flight from the Akron Airdock itself - tangential background predating the pin's stored 1 October 2025 date.
Suggest a correction
Something missing or wrong? Say it in your own words: a link that backs this pin up, a different start or end date and why, or a fact it lacks or gets wrong. The AI checks it against this pin's sources, searches for better ones, and adds any page that backs you up. The pin's own sources still count most.
