All of the launches that I have done that were high altitude ones that went 115k ft or so I filed a NOTAM with the FAA and called YKM tower if the flight path went over any normal flight paths.

 Legally I wasn't required to do anything since the payloads met the part 101 requirements set by the FAA but I felt it was still the responsible thing to do. The balloon that was shot down in the jet stream was most likely a pico balloon which ive flown before as well and those come in around 12-16 grams so way under what the FAA is concerned about and those I normally don't notify anyone about since it's the equivalent of a kid letting go of his birthday balloon. 

What I don't understand is there are 2 websites that are publicly available, one that is amateur balloons only and then another that is radiosondes and amateur balloons that everyone uses including the national weather service to monitor jet stream directions, speed at altitude, pressure, temp ect and NOAA uses that data (including amateur) for their high split modeling. It's something in my mind they should of been able to use to tell if this was a benign scientific balloon or if it was a threat. We operate 110% within the legal parameters and I fear without some media correction the administration is going to have some knee jerk reaction and kill the STEAM education and interest into this hobby and ham radio in general. High altitude balloon is what pushed me to get my license  and I've gone on to be what I think is an asset to the community because of it. Let me know if you wanna go over any of it I'm more than willing to help in anyway I can.

K7HAK

Get Outlook for Android