Old Archived data?

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David Marinelli

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Aug 20, 2021, 9:10:19 AM8/20/21
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Someone mentioned this article about an apparent plane-balloon collision over Pennsylvania on June 2, 2019: https://simpleflying.com/air-canada-weather-ballon-collision/  Is there an online archive of old sonde tracking data that might confirm the report?

Mark Jessop

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Aug 20, 2021, 9:14:23 AM8/20/21
to David Marinelli, radiosonde_auto_rx
Back in 2019 I don't think we had many (any?) stations in that part of the US, so there's unlikely to be any data within the SondeHub database.

Unfortunately the usual met bureau sources don't provide positional information. I guess you could figure it out from the known ascent rate and wind data values, but that would only get you an approximation of the flight path, not confirmation that it was right near a plane's track.

Cheers,
Mark VK5QI

On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 10:40 PM David Marinelli <david.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
Someone mentioned this article about an apparent plane-balloon collision over Pennsylvania on June 2, 2019: https://simpleflying.com/air-canada-weather-ballon-collision/  Is there an online archive of old sonde tracking data that might confirm the report?

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Michaela Wheeler

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Aug 20, 2021, 10:23:18 AM8/20/21
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everything in the date folders is summary files - that is the first frame, the highest frame and the last frame. Since you have the date it wouldn't be hard to search through to see any sondes near by that location were reported to sondehub.

As Mark said we didn't have much in the way of US stations back then - so I think your chances are slim.

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  Michaela Wheeler



On Fri, 20 Aug 2021, at 11:10 PM, David Marinelli wrote:
Someone mentioned this article about an apparent plane-balloon collision over Pennsylvania on June 2, 2019: https://simpleflying.com/air-canada-weather-ballon-collision/  Is there an online archive of old sonde tracking data that might confirm the report?


James Zelazny jr

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Aug 20, 2021, 4:06:09 PM8/20/21
to radiosonde_auto_rx
There is a misconception however about weather balloons and aircraft. We learned this in our high altitude balloon projects over the years.
The materials used are designed to be harmless for such an event. But it is amazing what those Jet Engines can take.
You Tub videos of Jet Engine bird strikes prove this. But there are some testing done for even more intense testing that is mind boggling.
Jim,N2NXZ

Rob Sullivan

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Aug 20, 2021, 4:34:32 PM8/20/21
to James Zelazny jr, radiosonde_auto_rx
Not doubting the last post, just curious what effect a huge balloon full of hydrogen has when it goes through a jet engine.... A small boost of free fuel? 

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Tom Hanley

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Aug 20, 2021, 10:56:53 PM8/20/21
to Rob Sullivan, James Zelazny jr, radiosonde_auto_rx
I don't think you can find a location in the northeastern US that is further from any regularly launching National Weather Service radiosonde station than the Scranton area.  Based on the winds at the time from the soundings at Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Sterling, this couldn't have been one of their radiosondes.  My guess is that if they really did hit a balloon, that it was more likely one of the high altitude balloons shown on https://tracker.habhub.org/.  Many of those hang out at similar altitudes for weeks at a time, compared to radiosondes which pass through the 30-40 thousand foot range in about 10 minutes on the way up.  Do they maintain an archive? 

Mark Jessop

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Aug 21, 2021, 12:22:13 AM8/21/21
to Tom Hanley, Rob Sullivan, James Zelazny jr, radiosonde_auto_rx
Also worth pointing out that the long duration floater balloons are tiny. We're usually talking about a <15g payload (compared to hundreds of grams for something like a LMS6 sonde) and maybe one or two foil party balloons. Very different to what the met bureaus launch.


73
Mark

On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 12:26 PM Tom Hanley <trha...@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think you can find a location in the northeastern US that is further from any regularly launching National Weather Service radiosonde station than the Scranton area.  Based on the winds at the time from the soundings at Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Sterling, this couldn't have been one of their radiosondes.  My guess is that if they really did hit a balloon, that it was more likely one of the high altitude balloons shown on https://tracker.habhub.org/.  Many of those hang out at similar altitudes for weeks at a time, compared to radiosondes which pass through the 30-40 thousand foot range in about 10 minutes on the way up.  Do they maintain an archive? 

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