Shooting holes in a blimp with a gun would have no discernable effect for days, so small are the holes and so large the volume of gas.
Don't tell the Pennsylvania State Troopers
:
The military was in the process of gathering up some 6,000 feet of tether, and the blimp's tail section could be removed Thursday afternoon, said U.S. Army Captain Matthew Villa. The much-larger hull, however, was still in the process of deflating and will be removed in "the next day or so," he said Thursday afternoon.
When the blimp went down in trees along a ravine, it still had helium in its nose that had to be drained. The "easiest way possible" to do so was to shoot it, Villa said, so state police troopers peppered the white behemoth with about 100 shots.
Good thing that helium didn't catch fire!
