ya-gabor Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 I know this is not aircraft and not helicopter but still it is a flying „object”. And it is an interesting “meteorological” object! U.S. Air Force / Department of Defense released this image of the balloon taken a day before it was shoot down. The size of the U-2 shadow on the balloon gives a perfect measuring chance for judging the exact size of the "meteo unit”. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Delanie Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 I saw this earlier quite interesting isn't it. naively I would have thought that these objects would have to be registered someplace so that they didn't cause a hazard to aircraft. I assume these come down again, without help, so what would have happened if say a 747 had caught one on it's wing or worse it's engine? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GW8345 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 Let's be clear here, this was not a "meteorological” object", it was a Chinese spy balloon that was illegally flying over the United States. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Williams Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 3 hours ago, ya-gabor said: I know this is not aircraft and not helicopter but still it is a flying „object”. And it is an interesting “meteorological” object! U.S. Air Force / Department of Defense released this image of the balloon taken a day before it was shoot down. The size of the U-2 shadow on the balloon gives a perfect measuring chance for judging the exact size of the "meteo unit”. Best regards Gabor Shadows aren’t life sized. Depends greatly on the angle of the sun to the object. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 1 hour ago, Dave Williams said: Shadows aren’t life sized. Depends greatly on the angle of the sun to the object. Yes, this is obvious, one would not be able to make a measurement down to millimetre based on a shadow. (so we will have to wait for an authentic scale kit of it! : ) : ) : ) Who will be the first??? Trumpeter or Hobbyboss? But the shadow at least gives a good comparison for the aprox size of the "thing". 1 hour ago, GW8345 said: Let's be clear here, this was not a "meteorological” object", it was a Chinese spy balloon that was illegally flying over the United States. It is obvious what it was, little question about that! 2 hours ago, Delanie said: I saw this earlier quite interesting isn't it. naively I would have thought that these objects would have to be registered someplace so that they didn't cause a hazard to aircraft. I assume these come down again, without help, so what would have happened if say a 747 had caught one on it's wing or worse it's engine? At the altitude it was going there is little chance for any commercial flight. As for registration or valid legal right for a balloon like this it is more a grey area, or so do the makers think. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 1 hour ago, Dave Williams said: Shadows aren’t life sized. Depends greatly on the angle of the sun to the object. Given the relative distances from the balloon and the sun, they would actually be quite close. Additionally, at that altitude the thinner atmosphere would diffuse the shadow even less than, say, and airplane shadow on the ground. The fuselage is not perpendicular to the balloon but the projected length of the shadow is easily calculated based on the angle from the cockpit to the wingtip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andyf117 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 Amusingly, in its piece featuring this photo, the BBC originally described it as "taken by a fighter pilot", even though the U-2 was correctly identified as a reconnaissance aircraft later in its article - "a fighter pilot" was subsequently amended to "an airman"... ....personally, I always liked the idea of a fighter variant of the Dragon Lady - not least because such a version would have been designated FU-2... 🤣 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Delanie Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 I like it Andy, but the designation could make writing reports , shall we say challenging ! I was actually thinking if the commercial aircraft caught it either on the way up or for some reason on the way down (naturally not shot down) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 34 minutes ago, andyf117 said: ..... not least because such a version would have been designated FU-2... Classic Reminds me of the B-1 >> B-One >> Bone Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spruemeister Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 Shadow shape makes me think 2 seat TU-2S. Maybe photo taken by the back seater. Rick L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 It looks to me more like the shadow of the wing adding that bump on the nose. All this is due to the angle at which the U-2 is relation to the "object". But who knows it could be a 2 seat Lady! As to the "object" dont think we will see much of it shown by authorities. I know there was that photo of some balloon parts fishing out from waters but that was only of the balloon. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 This is a spy plane taking pictures of a spy balloon. One is black. One is white. It reminds me of that old cartoon "Spy vs. Spy". 😄 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 On 2/24/2023 at 10:40 AM, Spruemeister said: Shadow shape makes me think 2 seat TU-2S. Maybe photo taken by the back seater. Rick L. That might explain why the camera appears to be higher above the wing ... -Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JackMan Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 9 hours ago, Darren Roberts said: This is a spy plane taking pictures of a spy balloon. One is black. One is white. It reminds me of that old cartoon "Spy vs. Spy". 😄 https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e9f310b-b1f6-45ce-b192-89f7d3ef4fae_2106x1530.jpeg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 10 hours ago, JackMan said: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e9f310b-b1f6-45ce-b192-89f7d3ef4fae_2106x1530.jpeg YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd not seen that. Thanks for posting it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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