Have you telephoned you local tower for?

T

Thrance

Filing Flight Plan
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Bozeman Montana
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Thrance
So today on my way to work I noticed a car dealership had lots of balloons and so on up for advertisements. However, I noticed they had one very large (weather balloon size) Balloon about 300 feet in the air. This balloon is about 6 miles out from the airport if anyone was flying a long left base they'd fly over it. Would you call to let the tower know? I'm not overly concerned about the its current altitude however, I'd imagine if it became free of its ground and the wind this morning it would end up over the airport causing many problems.
 
If I thought it were an actual hazard I probably would, although I would think the tower would see it anyway if it's within the pattern area.
 
Yes, I would make the call, since that would be within the D-space here, and 200 feet AGL is the limit without FAA notification.
 
Thrance said:
So today on my way to work I noticed a car dealership had lots of balloons and so on up for advertisements. However, I noticed they had one very large (weather balloon size) Balloon about 300 feet in the air. This balloon is about 6 miles out from the airport if anyone was flying a long left base they'd fly over it. Would you call to let the tower know? I'm not overly concerned about the its current altitude however, I'd imagine if it became free of its ground and the wind this morning it would end up over the airport causing many problems.
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Notifying the tower is required by FAR 101.15. Did you do any flying that day? Do you know if the tower was carrying the balloon on the ATIS?
 
Ron Levy said:
Yes, I would make the call, since that would be within the D-space here, and 200 feet AGL is the limit without FAA notification.
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200 feet for structures away from airports, 150 feet AGL is the limit for unshielded moored balloons.
 
roncachamp said:
Notifying the tower is required by FAR 101.15. Did you do any flying that day? Do you know if the tower was carrying the balloon on the ATIS?
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So driving around in a car, he's required to call it in? That's laughable.
 
Class D is five mile radius. OP seems to be estimating 300'....does he know for sure? A car dealership 6 miles from a class D airport sounds like a populated area. Would someone be likely to fly around there at a couple hundred feet? Not sure I'd get too panicked.
 
denverpilot said:
So driving around in a car, he's required to call it in? That's laughable.
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Err - no, the operator of the balloon is required to notify local air traffic control, IF it is indeed higher than 150 AGL (which is higher than you might think)
 
pericynthion said:
Err - no, the operator of the balloon is required to notify local air traffic control, IF it is indeed higher than 150 AGL (which is higher than you might think)
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The OP asked if we'd call the controlling authority. Someone responded with an FAR and made it sound like he was required to call. Sure the car lot was supposed to call. But that wasn't the question posed.
 
LDJones said:
Class D is five mile radius.
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The radius of a Class D surface area varies. The rule is 3.5 nautical miles plus the distance from the Airport Reference Point to the end of the outermost runway, rounded up to the next tenth of a mile, sometimes with an adjustment for sloping terrain.
 
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denverpilot said:
The OP asked if we'd call the controlling authority. Someone responded with an FAR and made it sound like he was required to call. Sure the car lot was supposed to call. But that wasn't the question posed.
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It was pointed out that notifying the tower was required by regulation, that that requirement was placed upon someone driving by was your misinterpretation.
 
I've called several towers (often from the phone at the base of the tower) for a tour.
I've called Dulles Tower to let the know that we were down safe and to thank them for accomodating our NORDO arrival into IAD.
I've called Dulles Tower to pre-arrange flying a NORDO plane out as flight of two with my airplane.
This doesn't count calling the attached TRACON to get a clearance.
I've called military towers to get authorization to fly.
 
It is a class D airspace, the Balloon was outside of the class D. I was not flying yesterday. However it's good to know, I'd doubt the ATC would have seen it as it was not that large. However the balloon was not far from a marked tower within 100 feet so I would imagine most pilots would be avoiding the area anyway
 
Saw that this weekend as well, thought for sure it was a weather balloon until I got a little closer.
 
roncachamp said:
It was pointed out that notifying the tower was required by regulation, that that requirement was placed upon someone driving by was your misinterpretation.
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Lots of misinterpretation going on apparently. I thought the same thing as Denver.

The OP mentioned he was on his way to work and then a follow up post notified him it was his duty to report the balloon.
 
Thrance said:
So today on my way to work ... Would you call to let the tower know?
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Nothing deleted here. Still says he was driving and wonders if we would have called the tower...

No biggie. I learned that I can't fly a balloon 300' over my hangar.

Good to know. Ha. :rofl:
 
roncachamp said:
I said nothing that could reasonably be interpreted to mean it was the driver's duty to report the balloon.
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You did presuming the reader did not also read the referred to FAR. This also means it wasn't YOUR fault for the misinterpretation. One could have inferred by said reference that it was the operator of said balloon since most average citizens know jack about CFRs (or laws in general).
It might have been nice to call the dealer and let him know as well that he might be in violation of said FAR.
 
roncachamp said:
I said nothing that could reasonably be interpreted to mean it was the driver's duty to report the balloon.
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The specific question asked was

Would you call to let the tower know?
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the answer given was

Notifying the tower is required by FAR 101.15.
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This was not simply a random statement, but was in response to a question.
 
Interesting, theoretical question: Can a certificated pilot be administratively punished for failing to comply with a CFR when not flying or near an airport?





(Ima gonna guess, "No.")
 
roncachamp said:
I said nothing that could reasonably be interpreted to mean it was the driver's duty to report the balloon.
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I've been called far worse than unreasonable, but it appears several other posters are just as unreasonable as I am, since it appears we all see it the same way. :)

The original post said:

I noticed they had one very large (weather balloon size) Balloon about 300 feet in the air. This balloon is about 6 miles out from the airport if anyone was flying a long left base they'd fly over it. Would you call to let the tower know?
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In this post, the poster is saying he was driving to work.
In this post, the poster is also asking, if you too, were driving to work, would you call the tower to let them know?

To which, you replied:

Notifying the tower is required by FAR 101.15.
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Which appears to me, to mean, that yes, it is his duty, while driving to work, to notify the tower.:dunno:
 
What is meant by "unshielded" in regards to the moored balloon??:confused:
 
dmccormack said:
Interesting, theoretical question: Can a certificated pilot be administratively punished for failing to comply with a CFR when not flying or near an airport?





(Ima gonna guess, "No.")
Click to expand...
§ 61.15 is one that comes to mind



 
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