THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WEEKSVILLE LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Airships that float freely and frequently around the Albemarle area will move across television screens nationwide tonight.
``NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw'' at 6:30 p.m. is scheduled to air a 90-second segment on Westinghouse Airship Inc., makers of huge, balloon-like vessels more commonly called blimps.
The news feature will highlight the airship's capabilities to help in law enforcement, said Sam Porter, site manager for Westinghouse Airship in Weeksville.
News crews filmed Friday in and around Elizabeth City. Shots were taken from the ground and within the cabin of the Sentinel 1000, the world's largest semi-rigid airship.
The Sentinel, emblazoned with the maroon-and-gold WAI logo, is 222 feet long and 59 feet in diameter. Inflated with nonflammable helium, the airship is able to travel up to 69 mph.
Westinghouse officials have touted such airships, an important part of the U.S. Navy fleet until the early 1960s, as a cost-efficient surveillance tool for military and civilian forces.
While filming Friday, the camera crews watched as the airship helped local firefighters put out a house fire, Porter said.
The company's potential clients include the Los Angeles Police Department, which is interested in using the Sentinel 1000's high-tech radar systems for crowd control during riots and to track criminal activity.
Westinghouse Airship Inc., owned by Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Corp., shares space at a former Navy blimp hangar in Weeksville with two other lighter-than-air industries.
TCOM L.P. produces aerostats, which resemble tethered balloons and are used worldwide for surveillance. Florida-based Airship International owns commercial blimps, such as the Budweiser airship seen frequently at sporting events.
Although scheduled for broadcast this evening, the Westinghouse Airship segment is subject to change and may be postponed, depending on the day's news, Porter said. by CNB