An advertising blimp with a lone pilot on board plummeted from the sky on Thursday afternoon during the first round of the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, according to multiple reports from the scene. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says the blimp caught fire before it hit the ground in a field near the intersection of Highway 83 and Highway 167, just outside the course.
"It started deflating, and then it started going down," witness Bryan Rosine told the Journal-Sentinel. "They were trying to give it some throttle and it didn't go up. Then there was a bunch of kabooms and smoke clouds."
A spokesman for AirSign, the company that operated the blimp, told the Journal-Sentinel that the pilot suffered burns but will recover after staying with the blimp as it went down in a field near the golf course. A crew member on the ground was able to pull him from the wreckage.
According to the USGA, which runs the event, the blimp was unaffiliated with the tournament or with Fox Sports, which is broadcasting the event.