Loon balloon tracking

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
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We just tracked a Project Loon balloon in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

LoonBalloon
LoonBalloon1017Ă—821 52.8 KB

What is the amazing Needle in a Haystack possibility of it flying over the spot in the Ocean we have a receiver?

This one is tagged This flight is restricted from public view and we could only see it when we went to the specific page for that aircraft. HBAL440 Project Loon Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

Why is this one restricted from public view when most of the others just appear on the Live map like normal airliners?

S.

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Eight and a half hours later it is still occupying the same small space in the Indian Ocean.

Most aircraft log from 1 to 40 position reports and usually there are only 10-20 planes a day.

This balloon, HBAL440, has 735 position reports so far which changes the stats quite a bit.

How long do they usually stick around in the one tight location?

S

HBAL440
HBAL440976Ă—710 63.7 KB

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Probably higher than you’d think since they’re designed to loiter over inhabited areas and provide connectivity…

Position-only flights are hidden by default unless you explicitly ask for them through your account settings, because there’s a lot of noise in there which can be confusing. When we can infer a reasonable origin/destination (generally, after arrival) they can get upgraded to regular visibility.

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Obviously much higher than i thought. :sunglasses:

Cocos only has about 500 inhabitants and has good phone and internet services and it seemed to me to be a bit of a waste hovering a balloon over there.

It looks like it may be changing altitude to stay on station.

I have section 6 Position only flights set to show but i couldn’t see it until i was told the balloon’s call sign as seen on the Skyview screen locally and i could search for it.

Apparently a couple on the island are out trying to spot it but i haven’t heard if they have seen it yet.

It is just getting to sunset there so that may help.

Thanks,

S

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A few days ago it was sitting in an area to the North and later over land to the Northeast of Learmonth. Didn’t move much for 2 or three days.