Wayward Blimp Crashes Into Oakland Restaurant
S A N F R A N C I S C O, Jan. 10 -- Even before the new XFL professionalfootball league got off the ground, a blimp emblazoned with theleague logo came crashing down into an Oakland waterfrontrestaurant after its two-man crew was forced to evacuate.
The wayward blimp meandered for 20 minutes after the two menjumped to safety around 1:10 p.m. Tuesday, according to OaklandAirport spokeswoman Cyndy Johnson. The pilot suffered minorinjuries.
The pilot attempted an emergency landing at the airport, but heand a student pilot — the only two onboard — were forced to jumpfrom the gondola because they could not control the blimp, Johnsonsaid.
A landing crew was not able to tie it down.
The unattended blimp then floated five miles north over theOakland Estuary, at one point reaching 1,600 feet, until itsgondola caught on a sailboat mast in the Central Basin marina. Itdraped over the roof of the Oyster Reef restaurant — next to wherethe boat was moored — and a nearby power line.
The pilot was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where hewas listed in stable condition, said Jim Devitt, associate hospitaladministrator. The student pilot followed the blimp on the groundand was treated and released by an ambulance at the marina. Theirnames have not been released.
No one on the ground was hurt.
The blimp didn't get off so easy. The airship, which boreadvertising for Spalding and the XFL, suffered about $2.5 millionin damage, Johnson said. The restaurant and sailboat are beinginspected, but a spokeswoman for the Oakland fire department saiddamage was minimal.
Authorities from the National Transportation Safety Board andthe Federal Aviation Administration are investigating what wentwrong.
"There could have been a number of reasons," Grant Murray,spokesman for blimp owner Airship USA, told reporters. "An airshipmoves with great mass and it's very difficult to control it."
The XFL football league, the creation of World WrestlingFederation head Vince McMahon, is set to start early next month.
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