Blimp Makes Emergency Landing At Long Island School

SOUTH FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A blimp was forced to make an emergency landing at a Long Island school on Thursday.

Nassau County police received reports around 9:22 a.m. of a low-flying aircraft.

The blimp touched down without incident on a baseball field at Woodward Parkway School.

Pilot Trevor Thompson focused on putting the airship -- a half a football field wide -- safely down. He eyed the empty baseball field as an optimal landing space.

"We had a couple of local people who came and helped and grabbed the nose lines as I came in and the landing was great," Thompson said.

Thompson was alone in the advertising blimp for a flight over Long Island. He took off from Republic Airport, intending to return there -- but winds picked up, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.

There were two pilots on board, said Caleb Walsh with AirSign, the Florida-based aerial advertising firm operating the blimp. The pilots were not injured.

Walsh said there was a change in the weather and that the pilot feared the conditions would prevent the blimp from reaching the airport.

"We looked this morning, it said 5-10 mph was the maximum and then when we got up there," Patrick Walsh, CEO of AirSign.com, said. "All of a sudden he was starting to see 15-20 mph winds and that's where the situation developed."

Blimps travel slowly--only about 20 miles per hour. Thompson said he was in contact with the control tower so police knew to expect him dropping in.

The 150-foot-long, 45-foot-tall blimp was not damaged, Caleb Walsh said.