Bunch of Kids balloons at 4000 feet!!!

[halwise]

Just heard this on 119.400 from "Airline 680" on finals
into Manchester. Sounded quite sanguine about it
on the r/t!!!!

[Hen Ddraig]

Big balloon thing going on in Burnley today.

So they seem to have drifted quite a long way

[Tinstaafl]

Probably not his kid still hanging on to the balloons...

:D :D :eek: :eek:

[charterguy]

Depending on size, latex toy balloons will climb to 20,000 feet before they burst. Meteorological balloons will even climb up to 95,000 ft !!!!

However, if 1,000 or more balloons are to be released simultaneously, prior approval must be sought from NATS. And they will not normally approve release sites near or under controlled airspace.

[chiglet]

Hal,
A gentle correction. The airline as "Ayline" [Aurigny] Airlines.
Does Guernsey-Manch-Guernsey
We aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[canberra]

i once got rung up by someone doing a mass balloon launch. i took the details and advised them to call nats. believe it or not nats werent interested! the bloke was allegedly told that they werent interested unless it was a launch of more than 20000,and as theyd told the nearest airfield nats were happy!

[Spitoon]

Can't speak for NATS' view (and in any case, it's the CAA) but it's all spelled out in Article 86 of the ANO. It basically says that you can't release more than 10000 in one go without the permission of the CAA. There are more limits if you want to do it within an ATZ.

[pigboat]

Tinny, we went by a bunch of about thirty or fourty toy balloons once at 10,000 ft. on approach into BOS. We reported it to the controller, and that was his response: "Is there a kid hangin' onto 'em?":D

[cwatters]

...and lets not forget the winner of the 1997 Darwin award...

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Picture/7379/strangebuttrue.html

[126.9]

There are many versions of that story, but HERE (http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/index_stupid1997.html) is the real one...? :D

[broadreach]

It was the morning of either the day or the day before the Brazil-England final and I was on the Rio-Sao Paulo shuttle. A GOL flight, 737-700 or -800, not more than 20 passengers. Around 10:00.

Normally they climb quickly to 29,000ft but this time the aircraft stayed at what I estimated was around 15,000 at reduced speed and kept jinking slightly left, right, left.

I noticed why, after a short while. Hundreds of those long, black balloons, about five metres long and 70cm diameter, that float up like grotesque cigars when heated by the sun. The entire Rio-SP corridor was full of them. On the return trip, Sunday about 17:00, there were fewer and we went straight up to cruise.

The thought did cross my mind - what happens if you suck one in? I imagine it would be shredded instantly and the fan wouldn't think twice. And what if you just catch it with the wing, could plastic ****** up any control surfaces? And, lastly, could temporary incontinence be an embarrassement if you happen to be looking forward and catch one of these torpedoes nose-on?

[Flap40]

Two years ago in the climb, passing FL250 NCL-AMS we passed within 100m of a bunch of 50+ balloons near SILVA. RT call went thus:-

Us: We've just had an airmiss with a bunch of heilium balloons.

LATCC: Roger.....which way are they heading?

Us: Straight up we think!

[The Boy Lard]

Not quite as many as some of you but I passed a helium filled pink dolphin over Snowden at 5500ft today, same level as me and about 100ft away.

Shocked me so much I nearly spilled my drink! Not a good thing to do in a cr@ppy PA28!

My passenger (on her first flight) didnt bat an eye lid!

Cant help thinking "Hmmm, string wrapped in prop, mountainous terrian below a thick layer of cloud, options....nil!"

Tested the old sphincter muscle I can tell you!

Cheers

TBL:eek:

[Go-Around]

Ever since he passed me at 3000' and 140kts about 20ft away, I just can't bring myself to watch Donald Duck cartoons.

[Hobo]

Going slightly off the thread I was co-pilot on a British aircraft with more than 2 but less than 4 engines in the 70's and halfway down 28R at heathrow some newspapers blew across the runway. When we got to Prague the spinner on No 1 engine was pink and that day's FT could be clearly read!

[Agaricus bisporus]

A bunch of balloons reported over S Midlands today at Fl200. Wind nearby 180/60. What angle of climb can a church fete balloon make? Bournemouth to Northampton at FL200 would be a respectable ROC for some underpowered aeroplanes...

London ATC almost incredulous at the pilot's report!

Could this be real?

[lomapaseo]

This comment probably belongs in the technical section, but what the heck the thread is here:)

Thre are two problems with baloon ingestion, the first is that they don't carry enough oxygen to always harmlessly pass through the engine. Threfore it's kind of a question of how much volumn of unburnable gas is being ingested. A small percentage is no deal at all.

Then there is the question of the baloon fabric. Stuff that shreds (kids foil types) will be mostly chopped up fine and only a little gets deep into the compressor, however some bits of tougher fabric baloons could easily get through the fan in big enough swaths to start blocking the air spaces between the vanes in the stator rows and now you are going to have big time surge problems.

The question always becomes how much non-air is to be ingested and the inescapable fact that the engine is designed to burn only air and petrol and not other stuff

[Ex Servant]

I can just image Wylee E Coyote from Roadrunner looking in your windscreen before sliding down the nose!