IF China Balloon Is Really For Weather

@metal-brain said
Didn't my government say it was too high to pose a threat?

@jj-adams said
What kind of plane can you rent that flies to 60,000 feet?
Answer: None.

@Shallow-Blue
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley recommended not taking "kinetic action" to bring down the balloon because of the danger of debris hitting the ground, the defense official told CBS News, adding that the U.S. government had determined the balloon does not pose a threat.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-flight-tracking/

@metal-brain said
Then I guess that hang glider idea is out of the question too. LOL
Face reality. It was at weather balloon altitude which is not going to be much use for spying. This is another government created conspiracy theory. You have no evidence.

@jj-adams said
Original question:
If it was an innocent weather balloon, why didn't China do the courtesy of telling ICAO about it and notify the countries it was flying over?
Why did they keep it a secret?
And how is it that the thing managed to change course and fly over sensitive military installations?

@metal-brain said
Nobody reports where weather balloons go. The are at least 60,000 feet high. That is over 11 miles.

https://stratostar.com/how-high-can-weather-balloons-go/

@jj-adams said
It flies at 60,000 feet, that's just short of 12 miles.
OK, get technical on me, it's only 11 miles.
Nobody likes a quibbler.

@shallow-blue said
Hang glider? Nah, he was going to sit in his lawn chair tied to 150 helium party balloons, just like in Mythbusters.

@metal-brain said
What altitude was the U2 spy plane at when Francis Gary Powers got caught spying on the soviets? Did he have to watch out for weather balloons while he was spying on the USSR? The U2 can fly to 70,000 feet. Is that the altitude they do spying at?

@metal-brain said
@Shallow-Blue
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley recommended not taking "kinetic action" to bring down the balloon because of the danger of debris hitting the ground, the defense official told CBS News, adding that the U.S. government had determined the balloon does not pose a threat.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-flight-tracking/

@jj-adams said
That's right, the U2 flew at 70,000 feet and in the 50's we routinely flew over Russia, China, etc, because they couldn't touch them, until the SA-2 SAM was developed..
So what?
Why bring up something from 70 years ago?
May as well talk about the Civil War for chrissake.

@kellyjay said
They should have shot it down as soon as it entered into US airspace, long before it posed an additional threat of coming down over land. The fact that they waited shows someone doesn't care about US airspace and foreign electronic surveillance or any other kind of designed equipment flying over the US.

@metal-brain said
No, I said the U2 was capable at flying up to 70,000 feet. That does not mean that is the altitude they do their spying at. They probably go over a country at high altitude and drop down for a closer look hoping to go undetected by minimizing low altitude peeking. Isn't that how Francis Gary Powers got busted spying on the USSR?

@jj-adams said
NO.
The U2 didn't drop below 70k altitude to take pictures over Russia, etc..
Its altitude is what made it untouchable.
How old are you?

@metal-brain said
What is your source of information?