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Albemarle Economic Development Commission
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PO Box 70
Elizabeth City, NC 27907
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Latest News
EC airship provided security in Trinidad
May 8, 2009 - 
As world leaders gathered in mid-April on the Caribbean island of Trinidad to discuss the economic crisis, energy policy and other issues affecting the Western Hemisphere, an Elizabeth City company played a role in keeping them safe.
A heavily equipped airship built by Airship Management Services Inc. at its technical base on TCOM Drive, patrolled the skies during the 34-nation Summit of the Americas. President Barack Obama flew into Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, for the three-day event.
Airships, more commonly known as "blimps," are familiar sights over big sporting events, but they also can be valuable surveillance tools, said George Spyrou, Airship Management Services' chief executive.
"Everybody thinks, 'How cute, a blimp over the George Washington Bridge,' but they don't realize there are Secret Service agents taking a picture of a truck on the upper deck," Spyrou said.
The company's airships were used for security in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention and the summer Olympics in Athens that same year. The company also worked with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard last year, doing surveillance missions off the Florida coast.
The 197-foot-long Skyship 600 patrolling this weekend's summit was built in Elizabeth City and flown to Trinidad more than two years ago. The Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago leased the blimp and eventually purchased it. Airship Management Services operates it.
Airships typically ally sell for about $6 million without equipment.
The blimp is outfitted with surveillance tools, including high-powered television cameras and sensors, and skilled operators interact with security forces on the ground. Five Airship Management Services pilots rotate duties flying the airship, which carries Trinidadian security forces, during 12-hour stretches.
To see a photo of President Obama boarding Air Force One as the Airship Management blimp hovers in the sky above, go to the White House Photo Gallery and toggle to Slide 20.
The information in this article is based entirely on an article by Lisa Chamoff in the Stamford Advocate. Airship Management is headquartered in nearby Greenwich, Conneticut.
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