(Courtesy of Susan Switzer via AP). Just before 3 p.m., the aerostat reportedly knocked out power lines at it came down near the Columbia-Montour Area Vo-Tech School.
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Raytheon, which produces the aircraft, has described the likelihood that the tether would break as “very small”, and it’s unclear what the current danger is to the public or how the blimp will be brought back down. Columbia County chief clerk Gail Kipp says the blimp dragged its tether line, which took out power lines and caused widespread outages. There were approximately 30,000 residents without power at the peak of outages and approximately 15,000 remain without power.
Hunsinger went on to say that there have been no reports of injuries or deaths, but the dragging of the blimp’s cable had school leaders taking precautions to protect children as classes began to let out for the day. A Twitter user, who captured video of the balloon, said it landed in Bloomsburg, Pa. Officials have not confirmed it is down, but a defense official did say that the balloon is much lower to the ground than it had been previously.
The unmanned Army surveillance blimp broke loose from its ground tether at a military base in Maryland on Wednesday and drifted over central Pennsylvania as two Air Force fighter jets tracked it.
A giant surveillance “blimp” that had been tethered to a mooring at an Army installation in Maryland is now loose and drifting over Pennsylvania.
At approximately 12:20 pm EDT today, a Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) surveillance system aerostat detached from its mooring station in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, and is now located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., over Pennsylvania. FAA officials were working with the military to ensure air traffic safety in the area, and has referred all questions to NORAD.
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The officials say, as of now, the blimp, which is two football fields long and is trailing more than a mile of heavy cable, is holding at a steady altitude and course and presents no imminent threat to any populated areas.
