blimp became untethered from aberdeen, north of washington, d.c., and it is flying uncontrolled, and think of it as a large helium filled balloon structure floating uncontrolled over pennsylvania. it is being tracked by two air force f-1s that were scrambleded out of their air station in atlantic city, new jersey. they are tracking it. following it. the faa and other federal agencies are working on it right now trying to ensure air traffic safety in the path of to a aerostat, because it is uncontrolled in the uncontrolled flight, and making sure that no aircraft get in its way. and trying to decide what to do about it. what is this system? it is essentially helium-filled with extensive radar equipment and something they are using and testing at aberdeen. it is a system that is designed
high-tech tethered drone blimp that can carry the radar equipment to watch on a 360 degree level for unidentified aircraft, incoming loaf line cruise missiles. part of the effort to keep especially the washington d.c. capital region areas air defense air safe to keep the air the skies over washington safe. this was undergoing operational testing. here is a really interesting question. norad said no worries, the national capital skies are absolutely safe. they are safe all the time. they have plenty of assets. it s going to, again, perhaps raise questions why are they spending billions on this if already the skies really are safe. good question, indeed. thanks very much for that barbara starr. let s bring in our aviation analyst miles o bryan. potentially they should have shot this blimp down but that would have been a disaster given
that gyrocopter. we ll get to the man from ohio in a bit. you re seeing the picture here. you know the story well. plopped down in front of the u.s. capitol broad daylight when this happened. he was flying too low and slow to be picked by the most sophisticated radar equipment. the mailman who pulled it off free to return home as security officials scramble to make sure it never happens again. abc s karen travers has the latest from washington. reporter: doug hughes was charged with violating restricted air space and operating an unregistered aircraft. the 61-year-old postal worker from florida appeared in federal court in washington as questions are mounting how hughes could navigate his gyrocopter right through the no-fly zone around the nation s capital. he traveled more than 50 miles. sources say the gyro copter was too small, too slow and too low it so it was never detected. all this layer defense, these
that gyrocopter. we ll get to the man from ohio in a bit. you re seeing the picture here. you know the story well. plopped down in front of the u.s. capitol broad daylight when this happened. he was flying too low and slow to be picked by the most sophisticated radar equipment. the mailman who pulled it off free to return home as security officials scramble to make sure it never happens again. abc s karen travers has the latest from washington. reporter: doug hughes was charged with violating restricted air space and operating an unregistered aircraft. the 61-year-old postal worker from florida appeared in federal court in washington as questions are mounting how hughes could navigate his gyrocopter right through the no-fly zone around the nation s capital. he traveled more than 50 miles. sources say the gyro copter was too small, too slow and too low it so it was never detected. all this layer defense, these
difficult and it doesn t always go as you expect. there s also the question of how much information i mean do you give each little piece of information to a family member. smoke is spotted on an island according to a helicopter crew who sees it is reporting to local media, is that information that you immediately give to the families or do you wait to verify it? there are very few incidents where you don t have the plane, where you re spending days searching for them. they crash on land and you ve got the wreckage. but there aren t that many where you don t have the plane and you re in this vacuum of information. how significant is the fact that this airasia flight was flying at the lowest altitude of all the other planes that were in the region? just probably haven t learned about the information, what s ahead of it. how do you know if it s ahead of you is if the previous aircraft went through that area reported it. that s how you know? there s not radar equipment? there