Balloons

("Jim" wrote)
I remember seeing balloons on two separate occasions and hearing a balloon
report to Center on one other occasion. The last was a report from
commercial traffic inbound to ORD reporting the balloons up around
12,000ft. Center nonchalantly acknowledged and the pilot clarified: "No, I
don't mean these are just some little party balloons, these are BIG, like
from a mall grand opening or a car lot!" This brought an immediate
broadcast advisory from Center about the location and altitude.


http://www.clusterballoon.org/
Fun site


Montblack

("G. Sylvester" wrote)
no reference the Larry the Lawnchair Man? There was a radio call from a
now defunkt airline (Eastern?) that checked in with SoCal Center
"Airline XXX, one four thousand, at my 3 o'clock and 5 mile there appears
to be a man in a chair attached to a bunch of weather balloons."


http://www.clusterballoon.org/utah/utah_3.html
Good pics


Montblack
"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

On 2/5/2007 11:51:47 AM, Stubby wrote:

Balloons are aircraft, just the same as airplanes. They should be
talking to local ATC towers etc, and getting winds aloft from FSS.
Typically, flights are just above tree tops for a good view, seeing the
deer, finding calm areas for landing, etc. But LTA craft need to be
exceedingly careful about power lines.

I believe the OP was referring to party balloons, not hot-air balloons.

In my case, I also once passed a party balloon at about 8,000 feet.

--
Peter

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Must be a Left Coast thing. I can't say that I've seen more than one or
two party balloons in the 1600 or so hours Mary and I have been
airborne...


http://www.clusterballoon.org/minnesota/minnesota_1.html
Minnesota

http://www.clusterballoon.org/iowa/iowa.html
Iowa: This way you could go for an (in-flight) lunch outing.

http://www.clusterballoon.org/states/states.html
Other states

"We're going for a picnic this afternoon."

"Where?"

"Up."


Montblack
After school, Joe, don't forget to pick up your parents over in Illinois.

("John Clear" wrote)
It is a real "whoa, what was that?" moment when the balloons streak past
you at 120kts.


Those are fast balloons. g


Montblack

John Clear writes:

It is a real "whoa, what was that?" moment when the balloons streak
past you at 120kts.

Brian Shul tells a story about passing a weather ballon in an SR-71 at
70,000+ feet while flying at several times the speed of sound. He saw
something flash by and didn't even realize what it was until he had
passed it. He had a bit of a chill thinking about what might have
happened if he had actually hit the balloon. There was absolutely no
time to react. It particularly made him aware of just how fast he was
actually going. (Normally the aircraft flies so high when supersonic
that it's difficult to get a clear idea of how fast it moves from
aloft.)

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Can't say I've seen any rockets from the air. I see 'em on TV sometimes,
but they are usually in Florida or Houston or something.

Yeah. We sometimes have really cool ones from Florida.

Peter ;-)
(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

I believe the OP was referring to party balloons, not hot-air balloons.


I believe the same.

Threads sometimes drift in their own hot air. ;-)

Peter
(That's all, I promise...I really turned on the computer to do some work.)

On Mon, 5 Feb 2007 11:33:41 -0600, Montblack wrote:

http://www.clusterballoon.org/utah/utah_3.html
Good pics

The original Lawnchair Larry took along a pellet gun to shoot out the
balloons to descend. I wonder how this guy planned to do it.

--
Dallas

On Feb 5, 9:33 am, "Montblack" Y4_NOT!...
wrote:
("G. Sylvester" wrote)

no reference the Larry the Lawnchair Man? There was a radio call from a
now defunkt airline (Eastern?) that checked in with SoCal Center
"Airline XXX, one four thousand, at my 3 o'clock and 5 mile there appears
to be a man in a chair attached to a bunch of weather balloons."

http://www.clusterballoon.org/utah/utah_3.html
Good pics

My favorite is http://www.clusterballoon.org/utah/utah_79_L.jpg
The guy seems pretty happy, but notice where the helmet is. It works
best if you put it on your head.

-Robert