Page 188 - Blimp News Today

>> i was totally asleep, it was around 2:00, 2:30 in the morning, somewhere in there, and i was sound asleep, and then i kind of woke up, i had a sense something wasnt right, and then next, the next second, i felt my arm in the bears mouth and crushing, and starting to feel him shaking me. bill: so hes not letting go, and i understand you played dead. you went limp like a ragdoll, as you said. >> well, yeah, i was screaming at first, and i realized that the screaming was aggravating the situatio...

If they want to send this out in the field to hunt for oil permanently. >> amber and rob join us from gulf shores, alabama. amber, youve seen this disaster from the bottom of the gulf where you ran with sharks yourself. what kind of help is this airship going to be in the days to come? >> well, john, when we were flying above the gulf of mexico right by gulf shores, alabama we didnt spot any large slicks of oil, although some of the coast guard members who were on the blimp said that they did se...

Going to air saturday and sunday. the people out here, you certainly have a right to be angry, have you a right to be sad at whats going on here, but you got to support the heroes that are doing the job do clean up the gulf of mexico and to save the gulf of mexico. ive had an opportunity to spend time with them. 8:00 saturday, 8:00 again on sunday, both eastern and pacific time. it is called "rescue saving the gulf." were highlighting the heroes that are doing just that. >> thats amazing, too. w...

In the enormous disaster. its a blimp. cnn and its viewers have been granted exclusive access to board. rob marciano and amber lyon on a tag team operation thats under way at sea. >> reporter: were just pulling up to the coast of gulf shores, alabama. because this blimp just slides across the water, these guys have a great viewpoint. when they spot anything wrong, they tell the pilots to then radio down to that vessel right there. rob marcianos on that. >> reporter: we are on the lead strike tea...

Our photojournalists is hopping a ride with them to get another vantage point of how all this is coming together. >> reporter: i think whats most evidence about the everybodies of the oil spill on the coastline. look at these beaches. normally they are packed tourists, and you see empty launch chairs. >> you see the sharks. the bait fish are coming closer to shore because of the oil, so all of the sharks -- weve seen pods of 100-plus sharks at one time. ive never seen that. >> reporter: the late...

A blimp borrowed from the navy, combined with the vessels of opportunity on the ground, it is quite the coordinated effort. >> reporter: were just pulling up to the coast of gulf shores, alabama. because this blimp just glides across the water, these guys have a great viewpoint and when they spot anything wrong, they tell the pilots and they radio down to that vessel. >> reporter: we are on the lead strike team vessel heading out to the gulf of mexico to work with ten other vessels of opportunit...

Permanently. >> reporter: the problem with this spill is there are so many different patches of it, getting a big tanker out here isnt go to work. so they have over 700 skimmers out here. the coordinated effort is huge. ive seen so much waste here, what seems to be waste, or burning of oil, ironically, so much gasoline and petroleum being used to skim it. that blimp barely uses any, relatively speaking. its one of the green of the way, and from a high vantage point, probably the best way to sear...

Take it, certainly, when it comes to trying to battle back this oil spill. there are over 700 vessels that are being used to skim here in the gulf of mexico. and the recent weeks, its just swarming here. we try to get that big tanker to work, to skim oil, but its just too big. there is too many patches of oil. you need smaller, more agile skimmers. well, coordinating those skimmers is a difficult job. so the navy has let the coast guard borrow one of their blimps, or air ships, as they like to c...

Guard, search and rescue operations. one of our photo journalists is riding around with them to give us another vantage point of how all this is coming together. >> i think whats most evident about the effects of this oil spill on the coastline is look at these beaches. normally theyre packed with tourists. nd youre just seeing empty lawn chairs and umbrellas. >> whats happening is the bait fish are coming closer to shore because of all the oil, so all the sharks, weve seen pods of 100-plus shar...

Vessels will be able to communicate with this blimp so its not just a vessel that youre on, but vessels all across the gulf? >> reporter: well, there will are conduits from that blimp to vessels like this, strike team command vessels. over my left shoulder, you are familiar with that aircraft. i know you are, kyra. thats the workhorse of the coast guard search and rescue operations, and one of our photojournalists is hopping a ride with them to give us yet another vantage point of how all of thi...