Last Remains Of Blimp Removed From Pa. Woods, Questions Still Remain

ABERDEEN, Md. (WJZ) -- The last remains of a runaway military blimp have now been removed.

This as authorities continue to question how this could have happened.

Amy Yensi has more on the recovery and investigation.

The massive blimp now reduced to pieces and the last of it now recovered.

It's not clear when it'll arrive in Maryland, but in the meantime officials still want answers.

A National guard helicopter took the final pieces of the crashed blimp Saturday.

It took several hours and three loads to remove the remains of the military balloon that drifted from Maryland into Pennsylvania.

Crews carted away the nearly quarter million dollar blimp that sent authorities into a panic.

"I've got transformers blowing all of the place out here," said one Pa. official.

Emergency dispatch was flooded with calls of the rogue blimp damaging property and knocking down power lines, before it crashed into the woods Wednesday.

"It's going to hit these big transformer lines that run along the interstate here very shortly," a 911 caller can be heard saying. "It's dragging some kind of big cable behind it."

"All the wires were torn off the house," said witness Anita Musgrave. "It went that way out the yard and flew down the street."

Rep. Elijah Cummings sent a letter to the Secretary of Transportation demanding accountability for the entire taxpayer program.

"This accident endangered lives, disrupted paths, left thousands of people without electricity and raises questions about the value and reliability of JLENS," Cummings told WJZ.

The JLENS program uses two balloons in the Baltimore area to monitor for terrorism threats. The other balloon in Baltimore County now remains grounded

While many question 'How did this happen,' there are new concerns about why the back-up safety system failed.

The blimp cause so much damage because it was about as big as a football field.

Officials are looking into how the blimp broke free.

The Army has begun accepting damage claims from those affected by the runaway craft.