So as our friendly Asian paradigmatic Communist regime's inadvertently, accidentally, and innocently misguided high-altitude balloon drifted its way across - if I'm getting the picture here - the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and Canada, and traipsing the airspace above Montana .... this situation might, I'm just saying it might, have been worthy of reference in somebody's NOTAMs. Yes? - I mean, it was an event with potential effects, potentially serious, on air-missions, was it not??
Oh that's right. The NOTAM system had a hiccup, a glitch. A contractor employed by FAA didn't perform a task or tasks correctly, and she-bang, thud, the system conked out. Occam is impressed.
I'm sure there's no need here (insert tone of Joe Pesci getting Marissa Tomei to look more closely at the tire tracks photo.... )..... as I was saying, I'm sure there's no need to ask questions like -
what were the qualifications of the contractor who is blamed?, what were the credentials? Had this contractor - the individual(s) or corporate entity or both - had a good performance record until this event? How often were these "data files" worked on? And so forth. It sounds too simple to be true. And especially, what about Canada's nearly simultaneous glitch, I ask??
I'm not theorizing anything. I simply do not give credence to the official explanation, so far, of what happened to the NOTAM system in Uncle Sam's offices and up in Maple Flags country. And then a very, Very, VERY NOTAM-worthy event happens, but it's not widely noted to Air-Missions? [Correction - it was noted - thank you India Four Two] Okay, OK, I'll just go back to work now.... on my 2023 edition of Letter from WR to Santa Claus, a wish-list longer than ever.
Last edited by WillowRun 6-3; 5th Feb 2023 at 03:33.