An Israel Defence Forces observation airship crashed on May 4, on the Israeli side of the Gaza border.
The airship was performing a routine surveillance deployment in the Gaza sector when a civilian crop duster flying by hit its cable. As a consequence of the incident, the balloon crashed whereas the crop duster landed safely.
Even if the extent of damage is not known, the airship can be fixed: a technical team was immediately dispatched to the crash site to try to retrieve the airship and ensure it can be repaired as soon as possible.
71-meter in length spy blimps floating at about 400 meters of altitude and carrying a wide array of sensors are routinely involved in the Gaza strip.
Photo: Israel Air Force Airship in the Negev Desert. Credit: Carmel Horowitz/Israel Air Force Flickr photostream
Source: The Aviationist