Oh, the humanity, and courage. A veteran Australian blimp pilot is being hailed as a hero for his actions above German skies when the Goodyear blimp he was piloting burst into flames during a landing attempt. The blimp was carrying 3 journalist passengers, who smelled fuel followed by a loud bang from the engine, whereupon the blimp started burning. The pilot got as low as 7 feet from the ground and ordered his passengers to jump. The pilot knew that losing the weight/ballast would kick the blimp back up into the sky, and he rode the flaming carcass to a safer area where he could put the ship down without causing ground crew casualties. Unbelievable dedication and courage as he knew what his fate would be-he was found still holding the controls when his body was retrieved. This is why we will never go up in a hot air balloon.... BTW, we don't know what else to say-it is kind of a slow news day today. Time to start interviewing candidates to fill our Adventure Editor vacancy, we guess....AUSTRALIAN BLIMP PILOT MAKES ULTIMATE, HEROIC SACRIFICE TO SAVE PASSENGERS.
Oh, the humanity, and courage. A veteran Australian blimp pilot is being hailed as a hero for his actions above German skies when the Goodyear blimp he was piloting burst into flames during a landing attempt. The blimp was carrying 3 journalist passengers, who smelled fuel followed by a loud bang from the engine, whereupon the blimp started burning. The pilot got as low as 7 feet from the ground and ordered his passengers to jump. The pilot knew that losing the weight/ballast would kick the blimp back up into the sky, and he rode the flaming carcass to a safer area where he could put the ship down without causing ground crew casualties. Unbelievable dedication and courage as he knew what his fate would be-he was found still holding the controls when his body was retrieved. This is why we will never go up in a hot air balloon.... BTW, we don't know what else to say-it is kind of a slow news day today. Time to start interviewing candidates to fill our Adventure Editor vacancy, we guess....