
US Military Blimp Loose Over Pennsylvania, F-16s Scrambled - spking
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/10/breaking-us-military-blimp-loose-over-pennsylvania-f-16s-scrambled/123218/
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mindcrime
[http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aberdeen-h...](http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aberdeen-
havre-de-grace/bs-md-jlens-blimp-loose-20151028-story.html)

 _Bad weather has caused problems for JLENS in the past. In 2010 a blimp was
completely destroyed when it collided with another blimp at a facility in
North Carolina._

Does anybody else find this whole situation absolutely hilarious? I mean, not
because it's funny per-se, but just the sheer absurdity of the whole thing?

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Someone1234
You'd hope they have a remotely controllable slow helium release valve. That
way they can just wait for a safe area and start slowly lowering it.

The fact they let it get from 10K to 16K and are only "tracking it" might hint
that they have no such procedure in place.

The thing is pretty dangerous because of the amount of cable it is dragging.

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pearlsteinj
They do, they tried using it and it didn't work...

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Someone1234
Oh. That's unfortunate. Do you have a better article than this one? I'd like
more info on this, and this article is lacking a little.

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pearlsteinj
Gizmodo article is actually decent: "While helium doesn’t appear to be a
problem at the moment, deflation is. ABC27 reports: “Authorities said it is
equipped with a device to slowly deflate it, but it apparently is not
working.” Whoops. If you see the free-floating balloon on the loose, call 911.
Do not attempt to engage."

[http://gizmodo.com/theres-a-runaway-defense-department-
blimp...](http://gizmodo.com/theres-a-runaway-defense-department-blimp-
floating-some-1739224198)

