One of the objects shot down in North American airspace last weekend may have been a pico balloon. Hobbyist club Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) reported Pico Balloon K9YO as “missing in action” on February 14, last located near Alaska’s Hagemeister Island on February 11. An NOAA Hysplit Trajectory map showed the balloon flying over the central part of the Yukon on February 11, the same day an F-22 shot down an unknown object. The balloon would have completed its seventh circumnavigation of the globe on February 13. Aviation Week reported, “The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type.”
