USA: Knocking down balloons shines spotlight on fans

MADISON, Wis.— Decisions to shoot down several unidentified objects detected over the United States and Canada have drawn attention to hot air balloons, which insist their creations pose no threat. .

In the past three weeks, United States President Joe Biden has ordered fighter jets to destroy three objects detected in US airspace, namely: a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina and a few other items. crossing the sky above Alaska and Lake Huron. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week ordered the destruction of another high-flying object over the Yukon; An American fighter plane carried out this mission.

U.S. officials did not say definitively what the objects were, but Biden said Thursday they were likely balloons belonging to private companies, climate researchers or hobbyists.

Tom Medlin, owner of the Tennessee-based Amateur Radio Roundtable podcast and hot air balloon fan, said he had been in contact with an Illinois club that believes the downed object in the Yukon was one of their balloons. No one responded to a message left with the club, but Medlin said the club tracked the balloon and it disappeared over the Yukon on the same day an unidentified object was shot down in the area.

Due to the incidents, balloonists immediately came to the defense of their hobby. They insist their balloons fly at high altitudes and are too small to pose a danger to planes, calling the authorities’ reaction over the top.

“The spy balloon had to be shot down,” Medlin said. “It was a threat to national security, no doubt. What happened next, I think, was the government got a little nervous. The adjective listed can be an easy trigger. I don’t I don’t know. When they shot them, they didn’t know what it was. It’s something to worry about.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the Biden administration was unable to confirm reports that the object belonged to the Illinois club. He noted that the remains have yet to be found and “we all have to accept the possibility that we may not be able to do that.”

Officials said Friday they have ended the search for the wreckage of the downed flying objects in Alaska and Lake Huron because nothing has been found. The search continues for the wreckage of the downed object in the Yukon.

Kirby denied that Biden’s decision to use hundreds of thousands of dollar missiles to shoot down what were most likely sub-$20 balloons was an overreaction.

“Certainly not,” Kirby said. “Given the situation we find ourselves in, the information available and the recommendation of our military commanders, exactly the right thing was done at the right time.”

Medlin noted that the balloons he currently flies cost around $12 and are about 32 inches (80 centimeters) in diameter.

The balloons are equipped with transmitters weighing less than 2 grams that use solar power and send out a signal every 10 minutes or so so radio amateurs around the world can use them to track them, he said. Medlin said he currently has a balloon in the air for 250 days and has flown around the world 10 times.

It’s fun to watch the world go around and build the little transmitters, Medlin said. He added that the devices are so small that a microscope is needed to put them together. The National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects data from radio amateurs to track wind patterns, he said.

The balloons are so light that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not regulate them or require fans to submit flight plans, he said. Medlin inflates its balloons with enough hydrogen to bring them to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). This is well above where most commercial aircraft fly, he added.

Current regulations posted on the FAA website state that no one is permitted to conduct activities with an unmanned balloon that poses a hazard, and the agency’s provisions apply only to balloons that carry a payload of more than 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds).

Medlin surmised that after US authorities detected the suspected Chinese balloon, they adjusted their radars to detect very small objects. But amateur aerostats pose no danger to aircraft, he added.

“We follow FAA rules and regulations,” Medlin said. “They are the experts to determine whether it should be done or not. Take a cork and throw it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Will a ship touch the cork? Probably not. And if that happened, it wouldn’t cause any damage to the ship.”

Ron Meadows co-founded San Jose-based company Scientific Balloon Solutions with his son. He said the company makes balloons up to 8.5 feet (2.60 meters) in diameter for middle and high school science students. He said these balloons carried a payload of between 10 and 20 grams, with emitters the size of a Popsicle stick. Some balloons have a 20 foot (6 meter) antenna.

Meadows understands that the authorities are trying to protect people, but, he said, they don’t understand that the balloons are completely harmless and they certainly overreacted. Jet engines are susceptible to swallowing much larger objects, such as birds, and most pilots might not even realize they’ve hit a balloon, Meadows said.

He said he tried to contact the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Defense to brief officials on the balloons, but his calls go to voicemail.

“It would have been nice to provide our government with the information it needed,” he said.

Meadows believes that after the incidents this month, the FAA will increase restrictions on balloons. He said that didn’t worry him too much, since his balloon business was just a bonus. He also runs a swimming pool repair service.

“We are in this (balloon) business mainly to help students, not to make money,” he said. “It’s for education. When we build these things, the time we spend on them would leave us more money in our daily work.

Medlin said the balloons can reach speeds of up to 130 mph (210 km/h) if caught in an overhead jet stream. But Bob Boutin, a flight instructor in Chicago, said these balloons were unlikely to pose any greater danger to planes.

Most commercial jets fly at an altitude of between 25,000 and 45,000 feet (7,600 and 13,700 meters) below balloon level, he said. Some business jets climb to more than 50,000 feet, although at that altitude the skies are usually clear and visibility reaches 20 to 40 miles (32 to 64 kilometers), Boutin said.

White House Kirby said the downed objects traveled too low and posed a danger to civil aviation, but Boutin said even at lower altitudes a small balloon does not justify a military attack.

“Birds and planes are a bigger problem than a balloon,” he said. Even if the aerostat were to fit into an aircraft engine, “most jet aircraft have two engines, and if one were to fail, technically it would be an emergency, but that doesn’t mean the plane is going to crash,” Boutin said.