CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...a shark blimp? Now may be a good time to cue the "Jaws" theme music.
Charlotteans can expect to see a shark-themed blimp floating in the skies on Sunday, and it's all for a beloved TV tradition: Shark Week.
While cable channel Discovery isn't kicking off the fierce festivities until July 24, their campaign to promote Shark Week programming is already in full swing. Or should we say full float in this case?
Discovery has launched two identical blimps along both the West Coast and the East Coast to promote Shark Week. And the channel wants to pit the coasts against each other for fun; you can vote on social media for either blimp with either #westshark or #eastshark hashtags in your posts.
The East Shark blimp originated from Nashville on Friday and was spotted over Atlanta on Saturday. It's set to fly over Charlotte on Sunday, July 3 along with the beaches on the Virginia coast. Both East and West Sharks will keep flying throughout Shark Week. East Shark should be seen again over Charlotte on July 28.
Of course, all flights are based on weather permitting them. The blimps will then land back in their originating cities once Shark Week has wrapped up.
And if that's not enough shark blimp for you, Discovery has an online tracker you can use to see where both West Shark and East Shark are in real time.
Just like actual sharks need to rest, so too the blimps must land in between appearances. WCNC Charlotte viewers Jim Holland and Amber Collins both spotted the East Shark blimp in the Gastonia area. Collins caught the blimp on video as it floated through the skies, and Holland spotted it landed near the Gastonia Municipal Airport.
Shark Week fans may want to keep their eyes on the skies west of Charlotte for their chance to spot the floating grey wonder on Sunday.