Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 So I was on the last leg of a LONG day last night. We were dead heading home into some gnarly winds. Went up to FL510 to try to get out of them and got a great view of the meteor shower. Then, the completely unexpected happens... ATC says " Got some interesting traffic for you, Google Balloon 100' below your altitude at 1 o clock 15 miles." You just NEVER have any traffic up there. We were able to see it on TCAS and visually as it had lights on in. Sorry, pic will not upload right side up Fun night! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N201MKTurbo Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 I was flying back from somewhere in SoCal back in the 90s. I was IFR at 13000 and center calls out 747 traffic 5 miles away and 4000 feet higher. I thought it was odd that they would call out traffic that far away. It was the space shuttle on top of its carrier. I said "Traffic in sight - Thanks!" 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alextstone Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Austintatious said: So I was on the last leg of a LONG day last night. We were dead heading home into some gnarly winds. Went up to FL510 to try to get out of them and got a great view of the meteor shower. Then, the completely unexpected happens... ATC says " Got some interesting traffic for you, Google Balloon 100' below your altitude at 1 o clock 15 miles." You just NEVER have any traffic up there. We were able to see it on TCAS and visually as it had lights on in. Sorry, pic will not upload right side up Fun night! What the heck are you flying at FL510?!?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtVandelay Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 What the heck are you flying at FL510?!?! GS 650.Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 Yeap, a G650... was doing Mach .88 BTW! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alextstone Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 Like this?Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooneyMitch Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 This is so interesting! A Google balloon? Lights on? Transponder? ADS-B ? Someone enlighten me on what the purpose/operation of this Google balloon is all about please. Obviously, I'm living in the dark ages still......... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N201MKTurbo Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 7 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said: This is so interesting! A Google balloon? Lights on? Transponder? ADS-B ? Someone enlighten me on what the purpose/operation of this Google balloon is all about please. Obviously, I'm living in the dark ages still......... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_LLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 (edited) 11 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said: This is so interesting! A Google balloon? Lights on? Transponder? ADS-B ? Someone enlighten me on what the purpose/operation of this Google balloon is all about please. Obviously, I'm living in the dark ages still......... They show up on flightradar24 and can be tracked there. They go all over the place and have been for a few years or so now. It's impressive how well they can navigate them. EDIT: BTW, they're big and reflective enough that they can often be seen if you know where to look. If you see one near you on flightradar24 and it's down-sun, they're not too hard to spot. Edited December 15, 2019 by EricJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N201MKTurbo Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 3 minutes ago, EricJ said: They show up on flightradar24 and can be tracked there. They go all over the place and have been for a few years or so now. It's impressive how well they can navigate them. EDIT: BTW, they're big and reflective enough that they can often be seen if you know where to look. If you see one near you on flightradar24 and it's down-sun, they're not too hard to spot. I wonder how many of the recent UFO sightings are Google balloons? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 50 minutes ago, alextstone said: Like this? Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk not sure what that is, but not a g650 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 heres a 650 https://images.app.goo.gl/9drLQJFN8s42TCCRA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alextstone Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 heres a 650 https://images.app.goo.gl/9drLQJFN8s42TCCRA Cool, thanks! That other flight deck is one based art my home field and I was curious to know what it is.Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 10 minutes ago, Austintatious said: heres a 650 https://images.app.goo.gl/9drLQJFN8s42TCCRA Cupholders! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooneyMitch Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 51 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_LLC Ah ha!! Thank you. Elon Musk, Space X internet satellites will more than likely replace these balloons soon ! Very awesome overall !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 32 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said: Ah ha!! Thank you. Elon Musk, Space X internet satellites will more than likely replace these balloons soon ! Very awesome overall !! Astronomers really hope not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 1 hour ago, EricJ said: Cupholders! haha yea... there are 2 more on the outer armrest as well! When a plane can fly over 12 hours, you are gonna want that coffee! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooneyMitch Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 33 minutes ago, EricJ said: Astronomers really hope not. Agree ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragsf15e Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 6 hours ago, Austintatious said: So I was on the last leg of a LONG day last night. We were dead heading home into some gnarly winds. Went up to FL510 to try to get out of them and got a great view of the meteor shower. Then, the completely unexpected happens... ATC says " Got some interesting traffic for you, Google Balloon 100' below your altitude at 1 o clock 15 miles." You just NEVER have any traffic up there. We were able to see it on TCAS and visually as it had lights on in. Sorry, pic will not upload right side up Fun night! That’s cool! Whats your time of useful consciousness up there, 10 seconds?! Be safe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austintatious Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 30 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said: That’s cool! Whats your time of useful consciousness up there, 10 seconds?! Be safe! ohh, no i don't think it is that long. Of course it depends on the decompression rate. here is a pretty interesting video of a rapid decompression to FL450 ... they delay the mask dropping to simulate response time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75_M20F Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 45 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said: That’s cool! Whats your time of useful consciousness up there, 10 seconds?! Be safe! Wikipedia says you have 5 seconds with a rapid decompression Yikes!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 The brain has a lot of O2 in it... it doesn’t evaporate under normal decompression situations... It takes a while to deplete, minutes not seconds... But... in the vacuum of space... losing pressure... is not an O2 problem as much as it is a boiling point problem... all that water has a tendency to evaporate.... at ordinary room temperatures... PP thoughts only... Best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 Keeping Austin on the straight and level... Holy cow... 51k’! Best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibra Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 I think ATC was excited to give you something on that long boring direct, sorry no U2, Blackbird, Concord...this time but I found a Google Balloon for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takair Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 7 hours ago, Austintatious said: not sure what that is, but not a g650 It’s the Dassault EASY II version of the PlaneView system...so likely a Falcon. Your picture brings back memories. Spent many hours in the G450/550 simulators working in Savannah as part of the team developing and certifying the synthetic vision and many other features in the cockpit that made its way into the 650. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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