LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — A blimp was sighted in the skies of northeastern and central Pennsylvania in the last few days, but how much do you know about these lighter-than-air aircraft?
You may have seen it floating overhead or photos on social media. The Dick's House of Sport A170 lightship was in our area for an advertising assignment.
"This is a true blimp, actually, as it has no solid structure on the inside," said groundcrew member Patrick Joyce. "100% helium."
It was too windy for Newswatch 16 to get a look inside, but the blimp's ground crew members were available to tell us more details about the airship.
The ground crew travels with the blimp from place to place and watches it 24/7 to monitor the systems and the pressure inside when it's not flying around.
"Compared to a plane, a plane left alone, with this, if you leave on its own, something could go wrong," Joyce said.
When parked, the blimp is attached to a mobile mast that travels with it and allows it to move freely with the wind.
"The actual bag itself is known as the envelope. It's the gas. Inside the envelope is another chamber called the ballonet. It's what we use to maintain pressure, and that is the air-filled chamber. "
The tails, which are attached by cables and used to steer the ship, are in the back of this chamber.
"Underneath, we have the gondola which is the bottom of the ship."
That is suspended below the gas envelope with cables. The gondola has the landing gear, engines, and propellers attached on the outside and the cockpit and seating on the inside.
This crew tells Newswatch 16 this is one of 25 blimps like it in the world.
"I like the fact that I get to work with something that not everybody gets to. I get to live the dream of traveling, you know, getting to work hands-on with it," Joyce said. "It's all-around just a good experience. You get to work with a great crew, great pilots. I've never had a bad experience with this."
"Every day is like an adventure, honestly. You never know where we're going to go next," said ground crew member Joshua Ross. "You get to see beautiful sights like Scranton."
After the blimp's assignment here, it made its way across the state to the Pittsburgh area.