The U.S. Open at Erin Hills saw some unexpected drama Thursday with a blimp crashing near the course. It appears that the blimp is this AirSign one with sponsor PenFed Credit Union. There was one person on board, who has been reported as “alert and conscious and evacuated by helicopter. Here’s a video of the crash:

Update: FS1’s U.S. Open broadcast finally covered the story just before 1:30 p.m. Eastern, with remarkable aerial footage of the fire:

And here’s an aerial photo of the wreckage, via Busted Coverage:U.S. Open blimp crash.

Here’s a description of what happened from 16-year-old Hunter Guetzke, who was on the scene:

“It started on fire at that point, in the air. …It continued to deflate, and basically just dropped straight down to the ground. And once it was on the ground, it exploded two or three times.”

The crash produced plenty of smoke, visible from the U.S. Open course:

Another Twitter user said they saw the pilot parachute out:

National advertising company AirSign tweeted about the blimp earlier Thursday:

Someone else got a shot of the blimp earlier, and said it crashed in their grandmother’s field:

And someone described it as “ominously low” earlier:

A Fox affiliate in Miami has been Periscoping aerial video of where the crash took place:

Reporters on the ground tweeted photos of someone being evacuated by helicopter:

The Associated Press confirmed the blimp crash from the operator, and said the pilot’s condition was uncertain:

Yahoo’s Jay Busbee reported that there was one person on board, who is “alert and conscious:”

The U.S. Open Twitter feed also weighed in, saying the blimp was unaffiliated with them or with Fox Sports’ broadcast:

We’ll update this story as more details become available.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.