Free balloons and VFR flying

[Andrew Sarangan]

I recently met some high altitude balloonists during a launch. These
are similar to weather balloons, roughly 6'-10' in size at launch
elevation. When released, they climb in excess of 1000 fpm. They seem
to be mostly colored white, so they would be hard to spot from an
airplane. I have been mostly unaware of these balloons during all my
flying. So my concern is how to avoid these balloons during VFR
flights. A collision with them could be catastrophic - the chords can
be tangled in the prop or other control surfaces, or the balloon can
simply obscure the cockpit window. They did call the local FSS just
before launch, but I am assuming this is only for IFR separation. I
just flew in in my airplane to the launch site, so I know there was no
NOTAMs about this. Even if there were a NOTAM it would have to cover a
huge geographic area, spanning several states. I have never seen such
NOTAMs. It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
color might be a better choice instead of white.

[Maxwell[_2_]]

"Andrew Sarangan" > wrote in message
...
>
> I recently met some high altitude balloonists during a launch. These
> are similar to weather balloons, roughly 6'-10' in size at launch
> elevation. When released, they climb in excess of 1000 fpm. They seem
> to be mostly colored white, so they would be hard to spot from an
> airplane. I have been mostly unaware of these balloons during all my
> flying. So my concern is how to avoid these balloons during VFR
> flights. A collision with them could be catastrophic - the chords can
> be tangled in the prop or other control surfaces, or the balloon can
> simply obscure the cockpit window. They did call the local FSS just
> before launch, but I am assuming this is only for IFR separation. I
> just flew in in my airplane to the launch site, so I know there was no
> NOTAMs about this. Even if there were a NOTAM it would have to cover a
> huge geographic area, spanning several states. I have never seen such
> NOTAMs. It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
> color might be a better choice instead of white.
>

Wouldn't this be a good reason to use flight following?

[Kyle Boatright]

"Maxwell" <luv^2^fly^99@^cox.^net> wrote in message
...
>
> "Andrew Sarangan" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> I recently met some high altitude balloonists during a launch. These
>> are similar to weather balloons, roughly 6'-10' in size at launch
>> elevation. When released, they climb in excess of 1000 fpm. They seem
>> to be mostly colored white, so they would be hard to spot from an
>> airplane. I have been mostly unaware of these balloons during all my
>> flying. So my concern is how to avoid these balloons during VFR
>> flights. A collision with them could be catastrophic - the chords can
>> be tangled in the prop or other control surfaces, or the balloon can
>> simply obscure the cockpit window. They did call the local FSS just
>> before launch, but I am assuming this is only for IFR separation. I
>> just flew in in my airplane to the launch site, so I know there was no
>> NOTAMs about this. Even if there were a NOTAM it would have to cover a
>> huge geographic area, spanning several states. I have never seen such
>> NOTAMs. It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
>> color might be a better choice instead of white.
>>
>
> Wouldn't this be a good reason to use flight following?

Do balloons have a transponder? I kinda doubt it, since thesy are
disposable items.

[Dan Luke[_2_]]

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

> It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
> color might be a better choice instead of white.


White is the highest visibility color for a broad range of lighting
conditions. There are colors that are slightly better in bright light, some
slightly better in dim light, but across the range no other color maintains
reflectivity as well as white.

--
Dan
T-182T at 4R4

[[email protected]]

On Mar 3, 1:42*pm, "Dan Luke" > wrote:
> "Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
> > *It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
> > color might be a better choice instead of white.
>
> White is the highest visibility color for a broad range of lighting
> conditions. *There are colors that are slightly better in bright light, some
> slightly better in dim light, but across the range no other color maintains
> reflectivity as well as white.
>
> --
> Dan
> T-182T at 4R4

That means we have no broad range of lighting conditions over here.
Our mil. trainers are painted black.
-Kees

[Maxwell[_2_]]

"Dan Luke" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
>
>> It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
>> color might be a better choice instead of white.
>
>
> White is the highest visibility color for a broad range of lighting
> conditions. There are colors that are slightly better in bright light,
> some slightly better in dim light, but across the range no other color
> maintains reflectivity as well as white.
>
> --

It could also just be the cheapest. White colored materials are often just
the absence of color pigments.

[Maxwell[_2_]]

"Kyle Boatright" > wrote in message
. ..
>
> "Maxwell" <luv^2^fly^99@^cox.^net> wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Andrew Sarangan" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>
>>> I recently met some high altitude balloonists during a launch. These
>>> are similar to weather balloons, roughly 6'-10' in size at launch
>>> elevation. When released, they climb in excess of 1000 fpm. They seem
>>> to be mostly colored white, so they would be hard to spot from an
>>> airplane. I have been mostly unaware of these balloons during all my
>>> flying. So my concern is how to avoid these balloons during VFR
>>> flights. A collision with them could be catastrophic - the chords can
>>> be tangled in the prop or other control surfaces, or the balloon can
>>> simply obscure the cockpit window. They did call the local FSS just
>>> before launch, but I am assuming this is only for IFR separation. I
>>> just flew in in my airplane to the launch site, so I know there was no
>>> NOTAMs about this. Even if there were a NOTAM it would have to cover a
>>> huge geographic area, spanning several states. I have never seen such
>>> NOTAMs. It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
>>> color might be a better choice instead of white.
>>>
>>
>> Wouldn't this be a good reason to use flight following?
>
> Do balloons have a transponder? I kinda doubt it, since thesy are
> disposable items.

Why would they need a transponder? ATC wouldn't be giving traffic advisories
to an unmanned balloon.

[Larry Dighera]

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 10:10:36 -0600, "Maxwell" <luv^2^fly^99@^cox.^net>
wrote in >:

>Why would they need a transponder?

It's doubtful ATC radar would paint much of a primary target of such a
nonmetallic object.

[Jim Stewart]

Maxwell wrote:
> "Dan Luke" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
>>
>>> It would seem that making the balloons in bright pink or neon
>>> color might be a better choice instead of white.
>>
>> White is the highest visibility color for a broad range of lighting
>> conditions. There are colors that are slightly better in bright light,
>> some slightly better in dim light, but across the range no other color
>> maintains reflectivity as well as white.
>>
>> --
>
> It could also just be the cheapest. White colored materials are often just
> the absence of color pigments.

And the least amount of solar warming.