3 Sep
2013
3 Sep
'13
5:55 a.m.
Maybe one of you pilots can shed some light on this. I swear I saw a weather balloon being released at SL Int'l airport this morning. It appeared to be a balloon with an orangish beacon light on the bottom, that illuminated the balloon itself. Constant light, no flashing. I stared at it for a while thinking it might be a helicopter taking-off, but the lights were wrong and it didn't fly any kind of pattern, just more-or-less straight up and following the wind direction. About 5:05 AM, not far from the Million-Air terminal that Patrick flies from. Do those balloons still get used? Seems kind of hazardous releasing it from the airport, unless radar showed no incoming traffic for a long ways off.