Blimp-Like Aircraft With Mitt Romney Ad Crash Lands in Davie

Aircraft carrying GOP presidential hopeful's message goes down in South Florida

A blimp-like aircraft carrying a Mitt Romney campaign message crash landed in a field in Davie Sunday night, officials said.

No one was injured when the thermal airship, which had a photo of the GOP presidential hopeful and the slogan "America Needs Romney," went down in the 3800 block of Southwest 92nd Avenue around 7:30 p.m., Davie Police spokesman Capt. Dale Engle said.

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"It experienced some high winds and was having a difficult time and crash landed here in the field just south of Bamford Park in Davie," Engle said. "They were experiencing some problems due to the wind which forced them to crash land here in the field."

The airship had been traveling from Boca Raton, the site of Monday's third and final debate between Romney and President Barack Obama, to North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines.

It was about five miles from its destination when the pilot experienced the bad winds that sent the airship to the ground.

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"We saw the blimp hovering over the house and it was floating backwards it looked like it was actually coming down," neighbor Teri Balter. "I thought boy, Mitt Romney really wants us to vote for him."

"We were throwing baseballs outside the front yard, it was so low to the ground, it was just weird," Alex Balter said.

Engle said the pilot was able to put it down in a field and avoid the nearby houses.

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"It came down tail first and then the gondola struck and then rolled to its side as it deflated," Engle said.

Witness Rosemary Dondiego, an Obama supporter, was relieved no one was injured and even cracked a joke.

"Yeah, I brought it down with a rock...no," she said.

The Federal Aviation Administration investigated the scene late Sunday night and the deflated airship was eventually transported to its intended destination at North Perry Airport.

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