Bright Blimp in Irvine Skies Brings Deluge of ‘UFO!’ Cries

It glowed. It blinked. It swooped down to Earth and back up again, lighting up the sky as well as 911 emergency switchboards throughout the Irvine area Monday night.

“Some people saw a disc. Some people saw a diamond-shaped object,” said Lt. Robert Rivas of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which received about 50 calls about “UFO sightings” between 7:30 and 9 p.m.

At least 100 people called the Irvine Police Department, scores more contacted the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin and others even called the UC Irvine student paper.

“Apparently, a lot of people thought it was an emergency,” Irvine Police Lt. Bob Leonard said.

Dispatchers said that callers were relieved to know other people had seen it too and that it was only a glow-in-the-dark blimp on its first night flight.

The 130-foot airship, made of translucent nylon, is lighted internally with ordinary outdoor lights. Standard aviation lights are affixed outside. Constructed by the Portland-based American Blimp Corp., the airship was inflated at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station for a demonstration flight for the FAA, engineer Lee Stohr said. The demonstrations will continue throughout the week in San Diego.

Irvine police dispatchers said the calls about the blimp sightings interfered with police calls.

“At one time, I had a woman who reported her husband had caught an intruder on the front lawn. There were eight lines ringing all at the same time,” said Patti Wells, lead dispatcher. “I felt real uncomfortable putting her on hold to answer another call about a blimp.”