Center_Mid
Well-Known Member
My nephew asked me the other day: when kids let go of helium balloons at a county fair or wherever, do jet pilots ever fly past the balloons?
I'm a pilot who never ventures into the FLs, so I told him that I wasn't sure but that I thought that most little helium balloons get up to about seven or eight thousand feet before leaking helium and becoming too heavy. Personally, I've flown past kids' balloons at 2-8 thousand feet, but I can't recall seeing any around 9 or 10 thousand. Granted, they're tough to spot even at C172 speeds. On the other hand, some websites out there say that a typical latex balloon without a string can reach FL280 or so before they burst from the pressure differential.
So, my question is: what is the highest altitude at which you've flown past those little balloons?
I'm a pilot who never ventures into the FLs, so I told him that I wasn't sure but that I thought that most little helium balloons get up to about seven or eight thousand feet before leaking helium and becoming too heavy. Personally, I've flown past kids' balloons at 2-8 thousand feet, but I can't recall seeing any around 9 or 10 thousand. Granted, they're tough to spot even at C172 speeds. On the other hand, some websites out there say that a typical latex balloon without a string can reach FL280 or so before they burst from the pressure differential.
So, my question is: what is the highest altitude at which you've flown past those little balloons?