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US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

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171–180 of 526 posts

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#171

I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…

There are absolutely hard rules about national airspace, what the hell do you think the ICAO exists for?

https://www.icao.int/APAC/Documents/edocs/International%20Ai...

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#172

I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…

[flagged]

A weather balloon is a couple pounds at most.

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#173

I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…

> There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? There's no hard rule about when life begins but killing a 5 year old isn't a 22nd trimester abortion, it's murder. 18-60'000 feet is class A, controlled airspace in the US and Canada. When the US sent U2s over the USSR, the rationale wasn't that 70,000 feet was "space", it was that it w…

[flagged]

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#174

Is there a plausible explanation as to why the US government has not announced objects 2 & 3 are balloons, if they are balloons? They call them "objects", yet must know what they are. They wouldn't randomly missile unknowns. If it's for reasons of secrecy, why announce it at all? The second one was in the middle of nowhere, it could easily have been ignored, or dismissed as a military exercise if anyone had made a fu…

Because at least the 2nd object wasn’t, it was described as a cylinder about the size of a car which is where all the UFO tic-tac victory mark memes came from.

I recall there being myths of third Reich cigar UFOs.

Maybe Blue Beam is in effect.

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#176
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a common expression https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_that_got_to_do_with...

It’s not so common any more. I bet less than 5% of gen Z know it.

I’m a millennial living in US (although non native English speaker) and had no idea.

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would aliens show up this way?

Any reason they would not? Maybe they just caught this time. I'm being serious btw

Extraordinary claims. The burden of proof is on the claimant.

Might as well say it’s wizards showing up… because wizards don’t have a reason not to.

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#178
post #30

This is third shoot down we’ve been told about. First was the Chinese balloon, second was the small less maneuverable vehicle off of Alaska, and this third one in Canadian airspace. Feels like some cold conflict we’ve been unaware of is heating up.

"We have always been at war with Eastasia"

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

article states that it was on Canada's orders. I didn't know that was a thing, Canadian PM having the power to command US jets. Can anyone who knows more about NORAD weigh in with an ELI5?

Authorize US jets you mean? Canada is a close US ally, norad allows both US and Canada to learn about the object at the same time, and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon

> […] and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon

The US was monitoring it on Friday:

> A statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the object shot down on Saturday was first noticed over Alaska on Friday evening. Two F-22 fighter jets “monitored the object” with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard, Ryder’s statement said, “tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object.”

* https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/norad-additional-obj...

However:

> Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a news conference the "small, cylindrical object" was about 40,000 feet above ground and downed — due to possible risks to civilian aviation — at around 3:40 p.m. ET about 100 miles from the U.S. border in central Yukon.

> A senior government source with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that the Canadian government was first alerted to the object Friday night when it was still travelling through Alaska.

> The source added the object crossed into Yukon on Saturday morning and Trudeau ordered the shoot down by whichever country arrived at it first.

* https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-monitoring-airborne-o...

So it looks like the US 'took too long' to decide to shoot it down, and once it crossed the border Canada had final authorization. The US jets just happened to be closer (CA jets were scrambled as well).

Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada

#180

I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…

Too clever by half
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