Chinese balloon taken down off SC coast; Wilmington-area residents give eyewitness accounts
The United States on Saturday downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America and became the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.
An operation was underway in U.S. territorial waters to recover debris from the balloon, which had been flying at about 60,000 feet and estimated to be about the size of three school buses.
On Saturday afternoon, the Wrightsville Beach Coast Guard said it was not involved in the recovery, while the Oak Island Coast Guard station said it could not comment.
Meanwhile, several residents along the Southeastern North Carolina coast reported seeing the balloon as it passed overhead Saturday afternoon.
Sam Tyndall, who's no stranger to watching the sky, is one of them.
The Calabash resident and space enthusiast founded the Coastal Carolina Skywatchers Facebook group in January 2021 to share his passion with other like-minded folks.
On Friday, when Tyndall heard the Chinese balloon would be passing over the Carolinas, he and his wife Niki decided they wanted to see it. Immediately, Tyndall reached out to members of the Facebook group so they could get a game plan.
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“We mainly look at rocket launches and celestial phenomenon, but this was too interesting to pass up,” Tyndall said.
On Saturday morning, he was on alert, waiting to catch a glimpse — and hopefully, a few pictures — of the balloon. Later that afternoon, when he heard it was near the Carolinas’ coast, he was ready.
“I grabbed my wife and brought her outside,” he said.
Tyndall has celestial binoculars, and they used those to get a good look at the balloon. He took a few pictures. Because the sun was so bright, they turned their attention to other things; his wife went back inside, and he began working on projects in the yard.
A few minutes later, his wife came outside and told him the balloon had been shot down.
“That’s when I caught what appeared to be a missile contrail over the ocean,” he said.
Tyndall grew up near the Myrtle Beach Air Base and said Saturday’s event will be etched in his memory.
“This is probably the most military activity we’ve seen over the house in quite a while,” he said.
VIDEO BELOW: Jessi Viox of Varnamtown took video of what's likely the suspected Chinese spy balloon just after being shot down by aircraft on Saturday.
Unlike many sky-watchers in the coastal Carolinas, Jessi Viox of Varnamtown didn’t have her eyes turned to the sky Saturday.
“I didn’t have any plans really,” she said.
But then she caught something on television that changed her mind.
“I saw on the news that (the balloon) was near Myrtle Beach, and fighter jets were circling it,” she said. “I said, ‘Oh, man! I better get out there and take a look.’”
But finding the balloon wasn’t easy. Viox admitted after several minutes of combing the horizon, she almost gave up. Then she saw one of the jets.
“I followed it in a straight line, and all of a sudden, I caught sight of it,” she said.
Soon after, she would see the balloon get shot down.
“It didn’t explode or anything,” she recalled. “It was just like it burst. Then you saw whatever gas was inside coming down and pieces of it coming down.”
Viox said this is a day she will not forget.
“This isn’t your everyday experience down here—or anywhere really,” she said.
Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the balloon descending toward the water.
As the balloon approached the NC coast, airspace surrounding Wilmington International Airport was closed and flights were grounded. The airport confirmed after the balloon was shot down that the airport was back to normal operations.
StarNews reporter Emma Dill contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Chinese balloon reaches Wilmington NC as airspace temporarily closed
