Hood blimp pilot OK after crash

BEVERLY -- The 90-foot-long Hood blimp that regularly appears above Fourth of July fireworks and Fenway Park jerked up and down and whirled in circles yesterday before crashing in a wooded area of Manchester-by-the-Sea, witnesses and authorities said.

The pilot, Leigh W. Bradbury, 57, of Oak Harbor, Wash., was flying alone and was uninjured, State Police said. The airship leaked helium, and Bradbury spent more than two hours in the gondola before being rescued, troopers said.

Bradbury said the ship's steering mechanism failed shortly after 12 p.m., about 10 minutes after taking off from Beverly Municipal Airport, troopers and airport officials said. Bradbury tried to land on Singing Beach, but an onshore wind left him snared in trees, some 30 feet above the ground, said Robert Mezzetti, the airport manager .

Before crashing, the blimp was ``bobbing up and down" and ``looping around in a strange pattern," said Michael Kenny of Peabody.

Arlene Murray , a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, said Bradbury reported ``rudder failure" and told investigators that the wind blew him into the trees.

A stranded Bradbury calmly conversed with emergency workers, who used all-terrain vehicles to reach him, said Robert Haggstrom of Beverly Farms, who watched the rescue effort.

A tree service company cleared a path so rescue workers from surrounding towns could carry in a ladder and rescue Bradbury , said Manchester -by-the-Sea Police Chief Ronald W. Ramos.

Firefighters stretched a 35-foot extension ladder to its full height and Lieutenant Clinton Hatch climbed to the top, attached a safety rope to the blimp, and made his way to the gondola, Hatch said.

The firefighter secured Bradbury in a harness, and with two ropes lowered him to the ground.

``I'm just glad he got down safely," Hatch said. ``I'm thankful for the training that made this possible."

Bradbury could not be reached for comment yesterday, but his mother, Ardys Bradbury, said he has been flying since the 1960s and has piloted blimps for about 12 years.

The blimp is owned by The Lightship Group , an Orlando, Fla.-based firm that leases the craft to Hood, a Chelsea dairy company, said Lynne Bohan, a Hood spokeswoman.

State Police said the blimp will remain in place until a plan for its removal is established.

Mickey Whittman, director of client services for The Lightship Group, said the Hood blimp, an A-60 airship, was built in 1997.