Barletta sends letter about runaway blimp to U.S. Defense Secretary
In this photo courtesy of Susan Switzer, shown is an untethered Army surveillance blimp Wednesday Oct. 28, 2015 in Bloomsburg, Pa. The unmanned Army surveillance blimp broke loose from its ground tether at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, a U.S. military base, on Wednesday and drifted over central Pennsylvania as two Air Force fighter jets tracked it. The blimp’s long tether snapped power lines, causing outages. (Courtesy of Susan Switzer via AP)
(Washington, D.C.) — A midstate congressman is demanding answers about the runaway military surveillance blimp that landed in central Pennsylvania last week.
Republican Lou Barletta, who represents all of Columbia County and parts of Cumberland, Dauphin, Northumberland and Perry counties, says he wants to know how a 243-foot-long blimp got loose.
He’s sending the letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
In it, the lawmaker asks about the status of any internal investigations, and what steps are getting taken to prevent a similar incident in the future.
The runaway blimp, which crash-landed near Muncy in Lycoming County, attracted international media attention.
But it also knocked out power to thousands of customers in Columbia and Schuylkill counties and two F-16 fighter jets had to monitor its movements.
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