For decades blimps have been used as flying billboards. Now The Lightship Group of Orlando, Fla., has created an airship that is sort of a flying movie screen.
The A-170 Video Lightsign measures 170 feet long, 55 feet high and 46 feet wide, and sports a 70 foot-by-30 foot LED screen. The picture streams from a laptop PC in the airship to the screen mounted on the outside.
In addition a Flir Ultramedia Series Aerial Camera can take pictures as the airship travels and display them on the screen.
The Lightsign, under development for two years, earned FAA certification in April. As this issue was going to press, the blimp was on its way to Australia for assembly. An unidentified company is paying $5 million to lease the Video Lightsign for one year.
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