It would be interesting to know why they were flying the thing on a day as windy as today was. The Libbey field weather station reported gusts of up to 45 mph at 1 PM when the accident occurred.

This is not the first aerostat lost at Ft. Huachuca since the installation, the second of its kind, was created in 1987. One came down in an incident in December 2009. It didn't get off its line that time, however. Another one was damaged by a dust devil while moored in May 1989.

The Arizona Daily Star version of the store is here: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 002e0.html

An Air Force article about the aerostat system. Not too technical, but interesting:

http://www.acc.af.mil/library/factsheet ... sp?id=2359

John