Pilot killed after helping three passengers to make incredible escape as Goodyear blimp plunges to the ground in flames
By ALLAN HALL
Last updated at 1:19 PM on 13th June 2011
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The pilot was killed but three passengers managed to jump to safety when the airship caught fire as it was coming in to land at the Reichelsheim aerodrome near Friedberg.
When the airship was just six metres from the floor, the pilot told his passengers, all journalists, to jump to the ground while he tried to land safely.
The pilot managed to get near enough the ground for passengers to escape before climbing back up
Plunge: The Goodyear blimp falls to the ground after the incident in Friedberg, Germany on Sunday night
The burning wreckage of the airship. The pilot was killed in the accident, but he managed to save his passengers
Once the three had leapt clear of the blimp he took it back up before being it became overwhelmed by flames and crashed to the earth.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud noise from the engine and smelling petrol fumes.
One eyewitness said: 'We could also hear the cries of the doomed pilot as the fire surrounded him. It was terrible.'
Eyewitnesses said three passengers escaped the gondola of the blimp before the 42-year-old pilot ascended and crashed in a nearby field.
The blimp pilot who died has not yet been named.
The journalists who escaped were a photographer from Germany's Bild newspaper and two from RTL television.
The crash happened at 8.30pm on Sunday night after the airship had made a round trip for the pressmen to take photos of the state of Hessen.
Germany led the world in airship technology in the first half of the last century. Its most famous airship was the Zeppelin - named after the man who invented it.
Firemen sift through the burnt-out wreckage of the airship
A coffin is carried away from the accident site late on Sunday evening
The Zeppelin was a rigid airship, meaning it has an internal structural framework, whereas blimps are non-rigid and there shape is maintained solely by internal air pressure.
One of the best-known Zeppelins was the Hindenburg which crossed the Atlantic to New Jersey on May 6 1937, but caught fire as it was trying to land, causing the deaths of 35 people.
The crash put an end to the age of airship travel but the craft have made a comeback in Germany in recent years as tourist magnets.
The Goodyear blimp seen in the sky above nearby Bad Vilbel earlier in the day
The blimp was also seen above Frankfurt am Main before disaster stuck later in the day
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002935/Pilot-killed-passengers-manage-incredible-escape-Zeppelin-blimp-plunges-ground-Germany.html#ixzz1PA3d6QDX
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