Air Buoy Marks Location of Field (Jul, 1930)
Air Buoy Marks Location of Field
Suggested as a means of enabling fog-bound pilots to locate the position of landing fields, the floating air buoy above has won the approval of veteran airmen. A plane flying above the cloud or fog strata sights the captive balloon bearing the name of the airport, learns of conditions by reading large-dialed instruments suspended from the balloon, and is enabled to make a safe landing in spite of the fog.
If there are strong winds, the cable will be at an angle, which creates a huge danger.
The cloud layer must always be thin enough for the balloon to fly above.
And, finally, a pilot entering instrument conditions (with no visual references) inside the cloud will often lose control of the aircraft. This idea precedes modern instrument flight.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — March 22, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
their now attempting this in Yonkers by inflating discarded pairs of Rosie O’Donnell’s underwear.
Comment by fred — March 23, 2009 @ 8:21 am
Suggested, but fortunately not implemented…
Comment by Eli — March 23, 2009 @ 2:18 pm
Fred, at least the smell would keep the birds away.
Comment by Mike — March 23, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
I would almost risk that fog for the chance to fly in a Sikorski S-38.
Comment by Randy — March 24, 2009 @ 8:50 pm
Radio direction finders were invented in thirties, so balloons would have been obsolete very soon anyway.
Comment by Jari — March 25, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
It looks more than WII anti-aircrafts balloons than a useful buoy for low visibility navigation to airports
Comment by Jose / Sandglass Patrol — April 10, 2009 @ 4:54 pm