Posted on Feb 18, 2023
Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group's small radio balloon?
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https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/ [login to see] /pico-balloon-k9yo
Did a superpower showdown provoke the U.S. into using a fighter jet to shoot down a hobbyist group's research balloon in Canada? That's the question the public — and the FBI — wants to answer, after the U.S. military shot down several unidentified airborne objects last weekend.
A military spokesperson tells NPR it's their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.
Did a superpower showdown provoke the U.S. into using a fighter jet to shoot down a hobbyist group's research balloon in Canada? That's the question the public — and the FBI — wants to answer, after the U.S. military shot down several unidentified airborne objects last weekend.
A military spokesperson tells NPR it's their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.
Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group's small radio balloon?
Posted from npr.org
Canada
Flying
Radio
Hobbies
Chicago
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 1
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There is no system for tracking or identifying the assorted high altitude research balloons launched by various private companies and "hobbyist" groups. None of these high altitude balloons are what the general public would consider a "small balloon" except in the legal sense meeting the weight limit of FAA regulations. There really isn't any way to tell a hobbyist or private research balloon from a "spy" balloon.
After all the jabbering about the so-called "Chinese Spy Balloon" I suspect that the FAA will need to publish new regulations for high altitude research balloons and the government will need to spend a few billion creating a new bureaucracy to keep track of them.
After all the jabbering about the so-called "Chinese Spy Balloon" I suspect that the FAA will need to publish new regulations for high altitude research balloons and the government will need to spend a few billion creating a new bureaucracy to keep track of them.
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