Large Grey Sausage

[Aussie Andy]

I was just getting an update from the AIS system on the NOTAM for this weekend's trip down to the Isle of Wight - there are so many NOTAM, something like 9 different Air Displays, PJEs, etc etc on my track on Saturday so well worth checking for anyone who hasn't! But the update just now tipped up a NOTAM of a type I've not seen before:NAVW: B)04/06/03 12:06 C)04/06/03 19:00 EST (H3872/04)
E)BREAKAWAY BALLOON REPORT.
TIME SIGHTED: 0406031120
LAST KNOWN POSITION: FRATTON - PORTSMOUTH
TYPE OF BALLOON: LARGE GREY SAUSAGE
DIMENSIONS: 30FT LONG
MARKINGS: NIL
LENGTH OF CABLE IF KNOWN: NO CABLE
DEFLATING DEVICE FITTED: NOT KNOWN
LAST KNOWN HEIGHT: 2000FT
HEADING: NW
F)SFC G)2000FT AMSLSo, you have been warned: beware large grey sausages flying around Portsmouth today!


Andy :ok:

[Fly Stimulator]

Just in time for lunch too! :cool:

[FNG]

Ha! That must be the best NOTAM ever.

[Penguina]

30ft long sausage be enough for lunch do you think? :p

[Fly Stimulator]

It may only be three inches in reality. Depends if a man wrote the NOTAM. ;)

[Spiney Norman]

Anybody got a 60ft high bottle of HP sauce?

By the way. Anybody else old enough to remember when the 90ft Pink pig advertising the Pink Floyd album 'Animals' escaped from it's moorings over Battersea power station? Got to be about 20 years ago. How time, and a large grey sausage, flies!

Spiney.

[Penguina]

It may only be three inches in reality. Depends if a man wrote the NOTAM

I always wondered about the effects of atmospheric pressure on men's 'brains'. :O ;)

[Evo]

HEADING: NW


bl**dy hell, even a large grey sausage can get through Solent airspace... :*

[steve_moate]

At last we have discovered the fate of the giant pink pig. ;)

Maybe its on route to Panshanger for a fry-in:hmm: :O

[Spiney Norman]

Flying through Solent airspace without a clearance!! CAA legal branch'll have it in for a grilling then!.......

groan!....I'll get me coat

[DeepC]

What is the wurst that a inflatable susage can do to a plane?

[Marigold]

What is the wurst that a inflatable susage can do to a plane?Ignoring the "wurst" gag for a minute ;)

It would be quite alarming in say, a twin, to run into the sausage end-on in IMC so that it covered the windscreen and side windows. Could really ruin your day when you slid down the ILS and didn't become visual :O

THE MARIGOLDSTER

[Penguina]

Still, you'd be guaranteed a greaser at the end of it......................

:D :hmm:

[Evo]

Most of my landings are bangers... :O

[bcfc]

Whoever spots it first will be the wiener


:hmm:

[BRL]

This could be the answer. It headed north into Surrey I believe and has now made a journey back south........ :}
(Courtesy of the Brighton Evening Argus.)

UFO mystery solved

by Simon Flacks

A UFO has been identified as an invader from the planet Argos.

The strange cylindrical object seen hanging in the air above Hollingbury, Brighton, spooked people who thought it was evidence of extraterrestrial activity.

It even had air traffic control in a fluster.

The Argus reported on Wednesday how theatre technician Ben Losh spotted the unidentified object above his home.

But now it turns out the sighting was a close encounter of the toy kind.

A group of teenagers bought the gadget from the catalogue store Argos on Sunday.

When filled with air, the black plastic Solar Airship toy becomes an eight-metre cigar-shaped balloon.

The sun's rays heat it up and the hot air inside the balloon causes it to rise.

Normally, users can hold on to the balloon with string but when the students from Varndean School took the reins, the string snapped.

Tom Collins, 16, of Fiveways, Brighton, said: "We just took it to the field near the school to play with it.

"We let it go but the string broke and it went out over the golf course and was then just swept off into the distance. Then we saw in The Argus that someone thought it was a UFO."

Mark Fulton, 16, of Hollingbury, said: "I thought it was really funny someone thought it was a UFO."

Mr Losh, of Woodbourne Avenue, filmed the object with his video camera as it soared above Hollingbury on Tuesday.

It appeared to be the second UFO sighting in Brighton in two months after a glowing globe was seen near Shoreham Airport last month.

Mr Losh, 32, said: "One of the reasons for calling The Argus was to try to find out what it was.

"You could say I'm a bit disappointed it was not a UFO but it has brightened up everyone's lives and that's the main thing."

Meanwhile, the Solar Airship, made by Wow Stuff Ltd, has continued its tour around Brighton and Hove.

Tennis coach Mel Bowden, 53, of Kemp Town, spotted the object floating above Badgers Tennis Club in Church Place on Wednesday - three days after it was launched.

He said: "It appeared to be about 1,000ft above the ground. A lot of us saw it and I had to stop my lesson."

Janet Goin, health and safety officer at Varndean School, said: "One of the teachers saw the article and let us know.

"People have found it very funny."

Head of science Jon Lamb said: "It's great to see our students taking hands-on science experiments and discoveries into their leisure time."

Robin Williams, an air traffic controller at Shoreham Airport, said: "We had reports about it two or three days ago with people phoning in.

"We didn't have any pilots spotting it because it was too low.

"But we reported in to air traffic control in Swanwick, near Southampton, who control all the airspace in this area."

[Mike Cross]

Wrong direction for Frankfurt

[Fly Stimulator]

That sort of navigation just won't cut the mustard!

[LowNSlow]

SpineyN I think Pink Floyd's porcine escapee was closer to 30 years ago. arggghhh..........

[trevelyan]

reminded me of that other old chestnut :

'A young girl, who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth, was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster.

A coast-guard spokesman commented, "This sort of thing is all too common these days."

:)

[rustle]

LowNSlow you're correct:

Photographs for the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals album were taken in early December 1976. For the photo shoot, an inflatable pink pig, made by the Zeppelin company, was tethered to one of the southern chimneys. However the pig broke free of its moorings and rose into the flight path of London Heathrow Airport to the astonishment of pilots in approaching planes. The runaway pig was tracked by police helicopters before coming to ground in Kent. Whether the pig escaped, or was released on purpose to increase publicity, is not known. Animals was officially launched at an event at Battersea Power Station in January 1977. from here (http://www.batterseapowerstation.org.uk/floyd.html)

[Spiney Norman]

Blimey!wish you hadn't told me that! Now I feel even older! Hey, just thought. Pink Floyd could of used a 'Large Grey Sausage' to publicise 'THE WALL'(s).

Spiney