Camarillo : Blimp Leaves City, but Not Residents’ Hearts
The Fuji blimp last week was winding up a six-week stay at the Camarillo Airport.
The Japanese film manufacturer spends about $1 million a year to operate the blimp as a mobile billboard. It is one of five in the United States: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. operates three and Metropolitan Insurance Co. flies the other.
From Camarillo, the blimp is to head for its home port of Elizabeth City, N.C. After a two-week stay there, it will start a springtime swing over the Midwest.
Camarillo Airport was picked as a Los Angeles-area base for the airship because the skies above Ventura County have little air traffic and the ground at the airport is not crowded, said blimp chief pilot John McHugh.
Some of the more persistent Camarillo residents who visited the 600-foot-wide blimp’s landing site on the southern edge of the airport were rewarded with short flights during its six-week visit.
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