Blimp departs LaGrange headed north
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 8, 2016
LaGRANGE — The blimp “The Flying Cucumber” departed the LaGrange-Callaway Airport at about 8:30 a.m. today headed north.
The airship arrived in LaGrange on Friday and spent six days here as the crew waited for weather to clear before heading for their final destination of New York City. Depending on wind conditions, the blimp is expected to stop later today in either Spartanburg, South Carolina, or Burlington, North Carolina, according to one of the blimp’s pilots, Cesar Mendez.
Mendez expected the trip to take about eight hours.
The 136-foot blimp is an A60+ Lightship model, and contains about 69,000 cubic feet of helium. It cruises at about 35 mph at an average altitude of about 1,500 feet.
It is contracted by the Scottish maker of Hendrick’s Gin and travels the country promoting and advertising the liquor.
