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In the current state of heightened awareness, it is comforting to think that on board the big blimp over your stadium, beaming images of a ballgame to television viewers, there could be a security officer in direct contact with command centers on the ground.

So far, that’s just wishful thinking.

Flight restrictions imposed on commercial airships over stadiums and public assemblies following the 11 September terrorist attacks exemplify a classic government regulatory paradox reflecting little understanding of the consequences or the opportunities inherent in airship operations. The new regulations prohibited airships from flying within three miles of a stadium below 3,000 feet or over any open-air assembly of people or within 22 miles of major airports. This is exactly the airspace where commercial blimp operators earn their livings.

Regulators seem unaware of the potential for formal cooperation between commercial airship owners and law enforcement personnel. In light of current events, it is time to formalize the relationship, alert the public to the usefulness of commercial airships as auxiliary surveillance platforms, and recognize the positive outcomes that cooperation will produce.

The last time U.S. territory was attacked, during World War II, the government built and deployed 150 blimps for coastal patrol and merchant ship convoy escort duties. These airships shepherded more than 90,000 vessels safely across the North Atlantic. Hovering over the continental shelf and spotting German U-boats before they could torpedo merchant ships, Navy blimps helped ensure safe passage for millions of tons of cargo and thousands of men.

This time, of course, the threat is different -- but the airship can be an effective tool in the modern national security arsenal. Better yet, it can do so at little or no cost to the government.

In an effort to persuade the government of the advantages an airship hovering on station can deliver to law enforcement, the four major operators of commercial airships have offered to carry federal, state, or local security personnel as working passengers.

The Bush administration is interested in at least exploring the airship’s role in homeland defense. The senior policy advisor for aviation on the White House science and technology council, Charles H. Huettner, arranged several meetings between airship operators and regulators in an attempt to resolve the impasse.

"I personally believe there is potentially great benefit in the use of lighter-than-air vehicles in surveillance roles," Huettner said. "There may be a place for [lighter-than-air transport] to exist."

There are a number of examples of previous cooperation between airships and law enforcement agencies. The Secret Service employed aerial surveillance while protecting President Bill Clinton during a World Cup soccer match in Chicago in 1994, and President Ronald Reagan during the Statue of Liberty centennial in New York in 1986. The Atlanta Police Department chartered an airship for aerial surveillance and unit coordination during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. There are signs the government is awakening to the possibilities: during the annual Fleet Week events in New York in May of this year, the FujiFilm airship operated by Airship Management provided security over the city. Force protection officers from Commander Carrier Group Eight and Navy Northeast Region teamed up with the New York Police Department on 21 airship patrols.

The task before airship operators and homeland security officials is threefold: to work toward a mutually beneficial permanent solution that involves interagency data sharing; to evaluate federal policymakers’ concerns about airship operations; and to assuage public fears.

We certainly are not going back to business-as-usual anytime soon, but we can begin to restore a semblance of normalcy. Let’s get the big friendly blimps back in the skies and working to protect us all.

Captain Armstrong, a freelance writer and author, is a past president of The Lighter-Than-Air Society