Hobby Balloon May Be One of Three UFOs Shot Down by Air Force

Devon Forward
·2 min read
36

A hobbyist group in Illinois may have just identified one of the three mystery objects that were shot down last week.

Most people are aware of the multiple unidentified objects shot down over North America recently, but now, we might have an answer to what one of them was.

According to an article from Aviation Week, a hobbyist club in Illinois believes its missing balloon might be one of the objects the U.S. Air Force shot down.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) said it's missing a "pico balloon," which is silver-coated and takes various measurements as it flies. The balloons generally cost anywhere between $12 and $180, depending on the type.

Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), said of the situation, “I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down."

Others also believe at least one of the objects shot down was a pico balloon, with Tom Medlin, a retired FedEx engineer and co-host of the Amateur Radio Roundtable show, declaring, “I’m guessing probably they were pico balloons."

Aviation Week attempted to contact agencies like the FBI, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Security Council (NSC), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).

While the NSC didn't respond to the requests, the FBI and the OSD referenced the incident but did not explicitly state that the objects shot down were pico balloons, with NORAD telling reporters, "I have no update for you from NORAD on these objects."

Despite NSC not responding to Aviation Week, NSC spokesman John Kirby told reporters recently that the objects "could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose."

After a Chinese spy balloon was confirmed to be shot down over South Carolina, the Air Force shot down a handful of other UFOs–one in Alaska, one in Canada, and one over Lake Huron off the coast of Michigan.

More details are slowly coming out about the situation, and according to the NIBBB, pico balloons are one very strong possibility.