Bloody drones! Should be banned.

[DesG]

Chinese lantern 'almost hit passenger plane'
Chinese lantern 'almost hit plane'

 

[old man mavic]

Chinese lantern 'almost hit passenger plane'
Chinese lantern 'almost hit plane'

they get reported as UFOs sometimes must have been a very good one to get to 20,000 ft

 

[JDawg]

they get reported as UFOs sometimes must have been a very good one to get to 20,000 ft

And drones most likely...

 

[Thoraldus]

I'd take a hit from that piece of paper over a bird any day! ;-)

 

[theDRONEranger]

20,000 feet and the flame was still going????
Not to mention the winds at that altitude!

Maybe the plane was flying at 200 feet . . . Just sayin' . . .

 

[Willie14228]

At what point does O2 deplete enough to put out a flame

 

[theDRONEranger]

Oxygen. Air contains about 21 percent oxygen, and most fires require at least 16 percent oxygen content to burn. Oxygen supports the chemical processes that occur during fire. When fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen from the surrounding air, releasing heat and generating combustion products (gases, smoke, embers, etc.).

Altitude (Feet) 20,000
Altitude (Meters) 6096
O2 Monitor Reading 9.7%
Effective Oxygen Percentage 9.7%
Similar Location Mt Denali (20,310 ft - 6190m)

 

[Aussie Oldtimer]

At a recent MotoGP event, the boys in the campground set off a massive version of a Chinese lantern. It comprised a fairly large fire unit (unknown material) suspended by string? below a large orange garbage bag . I watched if for ages and it just kept going up and up and finally out of sight. My first thought was for the safety of any low aircraft in the area.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

20,000 feet and the flame was still going????

There are fuels that contain "non oxygen oxidizers" so they do not require external oxygen. Hydrogen and chlorine will work for example (under a few other simple conditions I won't include here). A lot these idiots have enough brains to manufacture this, just not enough brains to not launch them in the first place.

Regards
Ari

 

[Dolph]

20,000 feet and the flame was still going????
Not to mention the winds at that altitude!

Maybe the plane was flying at 200 feet . . . Just sayin' . . .

If the wind speed is 100km/h you wouldn’t notice it as you would be traveling at the same speed as the wind. Your ground speed would be 100km/h though.

 

[israelshirk]

There are fuels that contain "non oxygen oxidizers" so they do not require external oxygen. Hydrogen and chlorine will work for example (under a few other simple conditions I won't include here). A lot these idiots have enough brains to manufacture this, just not enough brains to not launch them in the first place.

Regards
Ari

For the record, I am entirely in favor of the use of hypergolic fuels for chinese lanterns. And Zeppelins. You just can’t go wrong with hypergolics these days.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

For the record, I am entirely in favor of the use of hypergolic fuels for chinese lanterns. And Zeppelins. You just can’t go wrong with hypergolics these days.

As FAI type S rating which I hold is "Space" or rocketry so obviously I'm a fan of solid boosters over liquid as I have no burning desire to blow myself up in transport LOL.

Also I still occasionally get called in to defuse WWII ordinance as well being a member of the local metal detecting community and retired Special Projects and live about 15 km from what was the largest training ground in the South Pacific in WWII so that as well makes me a fan of solid monopropellants and explosives. When you're playing the odds with stuff that's 70 years old you take every edge you can get. Without any prejudice U.S. MkII grenades were unreliable after 6 months of storage in the tropics with their powder fuses but the explosive which varied from year to year is still viable. The British MK 36 Mills bombs are still quite viable after even 80 years in the dirt. Typical British over engineering. You'll notice I don't look anywhere near as at ease holding the MArk 36 as I am holding the Mark II LOL. In either case you get to appreciate the stability of solids at times like that but that's off topic so please excuse me.

I'll also admit to being leery of Chinese lanterns due to the lack of control after launch. I have literally zero experience with airships either rigid or otherwise but as it's controllable it doesn't really bother me too much whether you are using lighter than air gas or propellant for heating although I have to say I would have though gas bags were way more convenient. Also with the U.S. and Australia both being high wild fire risks at certain times I think you'd have to pick your location carefully. In any event I'll leave that part of it to those of you who know about it which I freely admit that I don't.

Regards
Ari