UFOs Hovering Over AIR FORCE ONE At LAX Airport

[tobigtofool]

I notice how good the focus is on the plane, but not the balloon in the OP though it seems to me that he attempts to focus on it.

Maybe that's because it's very high, yea maybe it's another one of those spy/weather balloons, but then I'd also think it would be on the news.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Is it out of focus or is it poor resolution due to distance and atmospheric scattering?

 

[Mick West]

Does the program get LOS Sphere dist ft 12725 from manually putting in LOS Sphere size ft 1 (a reasonable estimate of 1 foot in diameter)?

The program looks at the proportional size of the sphere within the frame and compares it to the FOV of the camera frame (in degrees) and comes up with an angular diameter of the sphere in degrees? Then given an (estimated) absolute size of 1 foot in diameter, it comes up with a distance along the camera's line of sight of 12,725 feet? That wouldn't be an altitude.

Both numbers are entered manually. I put in 1 foot, then adjusted the distance until the size matched.

True it's not 12,725 feet altitude, it's distance. Altitude at 30° for vertical would be about 85% of that.

Plane Camera FOV 1.61 means the apparent diameter of the airplane is 1.61 degrees? (A Full Moon is 1/2 degree.)

The the angle of the vertical field of view of that window.

What does Main FOV 30 mean? 30 what?

30 degrees, vertical field of view.

 

[Rick Robson]

Maybe that's because it's very high, yea maybe it's another one of those spy/weather balloons, but then I'd also think it would be on the news.

If I'm following correctly this discussion, according to Mick West's current analysis stage it would possibly be a small drone (which would not be a good idea over LAX).
According to you, maybe it's a spy/weather balloon. But just out of curiosity, in case it's just a weather balloon (not a spy one) why would it have to be on the news?

 

[Mendel]

according to Mick West's current analysis stage it would possibly be a small drone (which would not be a good idea over LAX).

whether that's a good idea or not depends on who is operating it, and who they're coordinating with.

 

[tobigtofool]

I don't really understand the question.

But just out of curiosity, in case it's just a weather balloon (not a spy one) why would it have to be on the news?

Well, even though it was civilians that spotted the first spy balloon last year that we shot down, it was military that spotted the other 2 that we shot down shortly after.

I'd like to hope that if another one got that close (within 60k feet) to civilian airspace, over LAX that our news media/military would have noticed.

whether that's a good idea or not depends on who is operating it, and who they're coordinating with.

Any source that there might be legal operators of a drone in low altitude over LAX? I wonder if you can contact the ATC in LAX to find out if there was approval.

Los Angeles Drone Regulations No Person shall operate any Model Aircraft within the City of Los Angeles and within 5 miles of an airport without the prior express authorization of the airport air traffic control tower.

Content from External Source

https://drone-laws.com/drone-laws-in-la/#:~:text=Los Angeles Drone Regulations&text=No Person shall operate any,airport air traffic control tower.

Update: I emailed LAX

 

[Rick Robson]

I'd like to hope that if another one got that close (within 60k feet) to civilian airspace, over LAX that our news media/military would have noticed.

Right on. But again, what surprised me was the presumption that just a weather balloon (rather than a spy balloon) would make such headlines on the mainstream media as well. Anyway, if I got it right anything that appears over LAX is per se something to be reported, right?

 

[tobigtofool]

Anyway, if I got it right anything that appears over LAX is per se something to be reported, right?

It would be extremely odd to be able to fly over LAX and have only 2 dudes happen to notice IMO

Unless you were like 60k feet in the air (or higher, where those balloons are supposed to be). Which is why I assume it was another white surveillance balloon (I don't think anyone has confirmed if they were spy, or weather balloons, I make no accusation but I think it could be another one of those big white balloons way up in the sky)

If LAX has no idea what this was, I think that's a better guess (that it's way up high) than something that is flying in literal LAX airspace creating a threat to passengers. But that's just my personal opinion.

 

[JMartJr]

It would be extremely odd to be able to fly over LAX and have only 2 dudes happen to notice IMO

Unless you were like 60k feet in the air (or higher, where those balloons are supposed to be).

Would a much smaller, much lower balloon also make sense? I would imagine drifting party balloons would be as likely to fly around LAX as anywhere else, the wind don't care, and it would seem reasonable that a party balloon drifting about would be little noted (nor reported on the news) nor long remembered if anybody DID happen to notice it -- unless somebody caught it while videoing something else, and made some incorrect conclusions about how big/significant it was...

EDIT: Hit "SAVE" too soon... so adding...

The wind conditions seem conducive to a balloon hanging around for a bit, even at lower altitudes...


SOurce: https://world-weather.info/forecast/usa/los_angeles/10-december/

 

[tobigtofool]

Would a much smaller, much lower balloon also make sense? I would imagine drifting party balloons would be as likely to fly around LAX as anywhere else, the wind don't care, and it would seem reasonable that a party balloon drifting about would be little noted (nor reported on the news) nor long remembered if anybody DID happen to notice it -- unless somebody caught it while videoing something else, and made some incorrect conclusions about how big/significant it was...

Yeah but I was thinking with their cameras able to focus on the airplanes so high up, and it looking as though he attempts to focus on the balloon, that they'd be able to get a clear focus on the balloon if that was the case (closer to observer than the planes).

I am making assumptions about their camera being higher quality due to the channel content, manual focus, and that he was indeed attempting to focus on it.

I couldn't find any data about how often party balloons go unnoticed in airspace above airports but I'm sure relatively often as well.

 

[DavidB66]

It would be extremely odd to be able to fly over LAX and have only 2 dudes happen to notice IMO

If it's small and high up - say, 3 feet across at 40,000 feet - would anyone on the ground notice it with the naked eye? The only reason we are talking about it is that someone was filming some aircraft with high magnification and it happened to swan into view.

 

[Mick West]

If it's small and high up - say, 3 feet across at 40,000 feet - would anyone on the ground notice it with the naked eye? The only reason we are talking about it is that someone was filming some aircraft with high magnification and it happened to swan into view.

The angular size is such that it would be invisible (or at least not noticable) regardless of its actual size. 1" at 1000 feet, 1 foot at 12000 feet, looks the same.

 

[Eburacum]

The photo of the white balloons released at a wedding looks interesting. I have seen mass balloon releases before; they quickly disperse, but you can still spot the occasional example for some time afterwards.

Since this sighting seems to consist of several separate but otherwise identical objects, I think a wedding balloon release seems a likely candidate.

 

[Scaramanga]

Venus does not seem to work.

If you don't mind me asking, how accurate is the sitch data ? Is it on par with flightradar24 stuff, whose display is often out by some seconds. For example I often hear the 5.00am British Airways flight from Johannesburg pass overhead on its way to Heathrow...its always the first plane of the day. Its position in the sky does not exactly match what is shown on the flight radar site.....so there must be some short delay.

 

[Mick West]

If you don't mind me asking, how accurate is the sitch data ? Is it on par with flightradar24 stuff, whose display is often out by some seconds. For example I often hear the 5.00am British Airways flight from Johannesburg pass overhead on its way to Heathrow...its always the first plane of the day. Its position in the sky does not exactly match what is shown on the flight radar site.....so there must be some short delay.

I'm using the ADSB Exchange data. It should be accurate down to the second. What you describe sounds more like an issue with the app taking a few seconds to display what is current.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/

This could be checked more rigorously by taking a photo of a plane when it's directly overhead, and then checking the playback to see if the time matches the timestamp of the photo.