Golf’s second major, the U.S. Open, got underway on Thursday morning at Erin Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin, and while the likes of Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed were charging up the leaderboard with a hot start, a blimp flying near the event crashed and caught fire, causing the occupants of the blimp to parachute out.
Footage of the blimp crash was caught by a number of spectators at Erin Hills, who noticed the blimp take a nosedive and begin falling to the ground in a scary scene. In the video below, you can hear the woman talking through what she’s seeing as she notes that the people in the blimp were jumping out with parachutes on.
https://twitter.com/msiggyy/status/875387281426841602
Here’s another angle of the blimp crashing to the ground.
Blimp going down at #usopen pic.twitter.com/dZ1uMbgWiW
— Mark Rogers (@Markwcm) June 15, 2017
Fox Sports’ cameras caught the blimp bursting into flames once on the ground in a frightening explosion.
Update: USGA releases statement, says blimp that crashed is unaffiliated with the #USOpen – https://t.co/AMbVMsMm5M (🎥: @FOXSports) pic.twitter.com/GcUGHAO3hI
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) June 15, 2017
An eyewitness account of the crash said that the blimp began to deflate and caught fire while in the air, leading to it crashing.
16-year-old Hunter Guetkze saw the blimp go down with his dad, describes what happened. pic.twitter.com/P1l32VhVrA
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 15, 2017
The USGA announced that the blimp was not affiliated with the event or part of Fox Sports’ coverage — golf coverage regularly uses blimp footage for aerial views — and that the pilot was injured and being tended to by medical officials.
A blimp unaffiliated with the #USOpen or @FOXSports has crashed near Erin Hills. Pilot was injured and first responders are on the scene.
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2017
Reporters quickly gathered at the scene where paramedics had arrived to tend to the pilot, who was reportedly alert and conscious after the crash.
On the scene at the blimp crash at the US Open. Well outside the gates. Paramedics here tending to someone on a medical guerney. pic.twitter.com/13PqJIEP5r
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 15, 2017
Highway patrol officer just told us only one person on the blimp and he is conscious and alert right now.
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 15, 2017
The crash was scary, but luckily it appears as though the pilot survived the crash and it happened away from the grounds where spectators and other people would be.