Chasing a blimp

A few weeks ago the Metlife blimp Snoopy Two flew over my neighborhood in Middletown, N.Y. I thought the blimp might have been going to Stewart Airport in Newburgh, so I started driving in that direction.

But I didn't have to go that far. The blimp was going to land at Orange County Airport in Montgomery, and I was there to take photos. The picture below was taken when I went back to the airport at night. I didn't know the blimp would be lit from the inside.



This is the only frame I got with the runway lights on. At small airports the lights are off until a pilot turns the on from the cockpit when taking off or landing.




The ground crew does a lot of work to get the blimp secured to the mooring mast and then ready to take off again. I went back the next morning to shoot the preparation and takeoff.

Here's a link to a slideshow of some of the photos:
>http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/tombushey/gallery-slideshow/G0000vI_lK4QsEvE/?start=

Even more of the pictures are available on my web site at www.tombushey.com