The Ron Paul Blimp launched this morning over the skies of Elizabeth
City, North Carolina and at current time of writing is on its
way to Chester, South Carolina where it will make its first stop.
Organizers for the blimp took off this morning at
8am at the Airship Management Hangar in Elizabeth City.
The current schedule, weather permitting will see
the blimp pass over Raleigh at 1 pm, Greensboro at 3pm, Charlotte
at 5pm and land in Chester, SC around 6pm.
The blimp will spend the night in Chester and then
head to Columbia, South Carolina in the morning.
Check the Ron
Paul blimp website and blog
for regular updates. The blimp’s coordinates are being relayed
via GPS and a live camera feed is also broadcasting events in
real time.
Though weather conditions have hampered video feeds,
a short video of the blimp was captured by the organizers this
morning:
Unfortunately it appears that due to the bad weather
the blimp will not make it to Boston to join the fundraising events
for the Tea Party donation day. Instead, the organizers say it
will spend Sunday in another early-primary state, South Carolina,
at a TeaParty07 rally in Columbia.
The project, initiated by independent Ron Paul supporter
Trevor Lyman who was on board the blimp this morning for the take
off, succeeded in raising its target of $200,000 last week, ensuring
the flights could go ahead.
The blimp that will be used is one of the largest
in the world at 197 feet long and over 66 feet high. It carries
a ground crew of 15-20 along with 2 primary pilots. 12 passengers
can be carried during any one flight. The passengers have been
chosen from Ron Paul supporters, veterans, charities, dignitaries
and the media.
At time of writing no major mainstream media outlet
has reported on the flight of the blimp.
The Ron Paul Blimp launched this morning over the skies of Elizabeth
City, North Carolina and at current time of writing is on its
way to Chester, South Carolina where it will make its first stop.
