# Killer Blimp over Pennsylvania! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999 "2015-10-28T18:58:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/1 "2015-10-28T18:58:36Z")
Okay, the title’s a bit of an exaggeration, but a very large military aerostat broke loose from Aberdeen Proving Grounds and is currently floating over Pennsylvania at the mercy of the wind. It’s reported as being at 16,000 feet and it’s dragging a 2 mile long mooring cable. Fortunately it’s high enough that the cable isn’t on the ground. Imagine if it was a mile up with a mile of heavy metal cable dragging along the ground! > **[Pentagon personnel on site to investigate loose blimp | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/politics/loose-blimp-norad-east-coast/)** > > Some 40 personnel from the home base of the military blimp that broke loose Wednesday are now at the site where it landed, a U.S. military official told CNN. ETA: It’s being reported now that it’s descending over Columbia County PA, possibly because fighter jets punctured it somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/2 "2015-10-28T19:02:56Z")
Where was **Scylla** when this happened? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/3 "2015-10-28T19:07:10Z")
Now the cable is dragging on the ground, hitting power lines and causing power outages! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/4 "2015-10-28T19:08:56Z")
Quick! Jettison the turkeys! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/5 "2015-10-28T19:10:49Z")
It’s being reported now that it’s 200 or 300 feet off the ground. I’d hate to be in the path of the cable! ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/6 "2015-10-28T19:12:01Z")
Ha! Just Monday I was at a scene in Laurel, MD and could clearly see both (there are two of them) floating above APG some 40 miles away. Who would have thought… ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/7 "2015-10-28T19:12:42Z")
You know, ever since they put those blimps up, I’ve wondered, off and on, what would happen if one of them got loose. But I always told myself the top-notch engineering minds of the U.S. Dept. of Defense had to have thought of that and put some sort of systems in place to keep it from happening. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/8 "2015-10-28T19:15:52Z")
2 miles of heavy cable dragging along the ground! It’s like a bad disaster movie. I hope no one gets hurt. ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/9 "2015-10-28T19:17:01Z")
Wow Bloomsburg is pretty far north, further than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/10 "2015-10-28T19:18:53Z")
I’m just outside of Philadelphia so it’s not near me. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/11 "2015-10-28T19:20:27Z")
Twitter says it’s landed. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/12 "2015-10-28T19:21:00Z")
My house happens to be located just a few miles to the north of APG. It must have gone right overhead. Too bad I wasn’t there to see it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/13 "2015-10-28T19:22:25Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > 2 miles of heavy cable dragging along the ground! It’s like a bad disaster movie. I hope no one gets hurt. Don’t wind up dragging your cable around. Get DirecTv. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/14 "2015-10-28T19:22:49Z")
24,000 customers without power. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/15 "2015-10-28T19:24:45Z")
Aw, it just wanted to see the Finger Lakes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/16 "2015-10-28T19:25:27Z")
Go home blimp, you’re drunk. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/17 "2015-10-28T19:27:54Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Twitter says it’s landed. CNN says it’s still “on the loose”. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/18 "2015-10-28T19:29:29Z")
The Buzzfeed headline on this story is unsurpassable : Fled Zeppelin ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/19 "2015-10-28T19:30:08Z")
Military says that it had nothing to do with the deflation. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999/20 "2015-10-28T19:34:02Z")
Some poor PFC is getting the holy hell chewed out of his ass right now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-blimp-over-pennsylvania/735999.md?page=2)