Sad news after years of preparation: polar airship crashes before taking off.
You may remember my earlier post about French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne’s plan to fly over the Arctic in an airship to measure the ice cap amid concern at the pace it is melting. It looks like those plans can be canceled.
Yesterday, the airship broke lose from its anchors at a local airport. It crashed into two cars and a house, then folded over a second house, seriously damaging its roof. The balloon looks like a write-off.
Etienne’s expedition was to begin in April in northern Norway and take him over the Barents Sea to Spitzberg. He would then fly over the magnetic North Pole and Beaufort Sea before heading to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, where he was due to land in May.It’s unlikely the expedition will be on schedule. Shame!
