The CBC has reported on a Goodyear blimp crash in Germany this past week. The item that caught my attention was the following fact:
The pilot yelled “We had an accident!” followed by “I crashed the airship!” as the smell of fire crept through the blimp, Storch told the DAPD news agency on Monday.
Storch and two other passengers, a man and woman from a TV crew, leapt two metres to safety.
The sudden loss of weight caused the ship to shoot into the air, where it burst into flames, killing the pilot who remained in the cabin.
This saddens me because if the passengers didn’t leave the blimp, the pilot may have been able to contain the situation and all four could have survived. I’m also surpised that the change in weight from the survivors was enough to cause the blimp to “shoot into the air”.
I look forward to reading the official report.
