• @dgmib
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    9310 months ago

    For the record, yes you need a pilot’s license to fly a hot air balloon.

    And yes the “balloon police” (aka the FAA in the United States) or their equivalent governing body in other countries will stop you, and fine you.

    • @Agent641
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      5110 months ago

      FAA if you’re lucky. If youre unlucky, the baloon police are an F-16 with a sidewinder

    • @DocMcStuffin
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      1810 months ago

      I don’t know if they can actually stop you. Especially the first time. But they can definitely find you and fine you. A lot. Like more than tree fiddy.

    • @[email protected]
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      510 months ago

      You DON’T need a license for some types of flight though. Anything under 254 pounds. Ultralights and paragliders. (However that doesn’t mean there’s no rules)

    • cum
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      210 months ago

      How do they stop you mid flight though

      • @Aux
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        110 months ago

        With helicopter mounted machine guns.

  • @Coreidan
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    10 months ago

    1.). Yes you do it’s called a pilots license.

    2.). It’s called the FAA and they will find you quick

    Violate some air spaces and the military will be coming for you faster than the FAA will.

    • @Ottomateeverything
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      1910 months ago

      Yeah, this. FAA does give a fuck. A lot of people fly drones extremely illegally but they’re too small for the FAA to notice or bother with, and most of them can’t get to real dangerous heights anyway. But try flying near an airport and you’ll find out real quick.

      I still haven’t figured out if people just aren’t aware that it’s illegal or if they’re just too brazen. I think it’s the former but not really sure.

      • @xX_fnord_Xx
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        1210 months ago

        So, my hilarious stunt with 40 quad-copters tethered to a lawn chair will go off without a hitch?

        • @Buddahriffic
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          210 months ago

          40 red quad-copters floating in the summer sky

      • @spfhaar
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        110 months ago

        from me all the FPV pilots I know don’t have the license, because it’s very difficult to do because they are almost all the same things that a real airplane pilot needs to know,

        Also I have seen FPV 6S drones at maximum speed even in densely populated areas always exceeding the legal limit of 120m if they had a license

        • @Ottomateeverything
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          10 months ago

          First of all, the “licensing” is kinda tough, but I wouldn’t call it “very difficult”. You could learn it all in a few days.

          Secondly, you don’t need the “license” unless you’re flying commercially. Flying as a hobby has like a page of material to read and like a 5 question test with a few rules to follow, so that’s far from an excuse.

          Thirdly, FPV has probably the hardest rules because you literally can’t see the sky so they require you have someone with you to call stuff to you… Which no one fucking does, so FPV is by far the worst offenders.

          Also I have seen FPV 6S drones at maximum speed even in densely populated areas always exceeding the legal limit of 120m if they had a license

          This type of shit is why the FAA is forcing regulations across the board, including towards manufacturers, to have tracking on who’s flying what and from where, which is going to start butchering the hobbyist communities. This is fucking brain dead and dangerous and people that do this shit are asking for accidents and the reason why we can’t have nice things.

          • @spfhaar
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            10 months ago

            I’m not in the US, I don’t know how FAA operates. In my socially ridiculous country it’s called ENAC and the difficulty is similar to that of a car license in terms of the level of knowledge required, and it’s an infinite bureaucratic stress like any non-mainstream license, only those who do it for work do it.

    • @[email protected]
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      510 months ago

      The FAA are an American organisation that only has jurisdiction in the USA, so no they won’t unless you do it in the USA.

      • @Buddahriffic
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        110 months ago

        Though that last paragraph does apply in many places outside the US. Sometimes it’s even the US military responding outside of the US (I mean I assume they protect the airspace around their bases, but I guess I’m not really sure what kind of jurisdiction they’d have just because they have a military base).

    • @[email protected]
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      210 months ago

      I crewed for a hot air balloon place in high school. The wind once blew two balloons right over the airport runways. ATC was not happy, but those things go where the wind takes them.

      Of course, those were licensed pilots.

  • @Chickenstalker
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    2610 months ago

    Most countries require a hot air balloon pilot license. Don’t fuck with the FAA. They will ruin your life.

    • peopleproblems
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      1310 months ago

      and if the FAA don’t get you, and you are using radios, the FCC might get you. And if the FCC get you, the FAA get you.

      Don’t fuck with the FAA. It’s not a fair fight. And we will lose more and more fun things to do as commercial drones take over.

    • @[email protected]
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      810 months ago

      Reaching almost 5000 meters is very impressive, and I love the plan of popping the balloons with a BB-gun to control the descent. I’m almost annoyed that they fined this unique effort.

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          I don’t think there was a plan B. A lawn chair strapped to 42 balloons doesn’t seem like a project without single points of failure.

  • @byroon
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    2210 months ago
    1. I don’t need a license to fly this balloon. I do what I want.
    2. Stupid balloon police chasing my balloon in their stupid police cars.
    3. Check out this move. I fly out over the sea. Balloon police can’t follow me. I am never seen again
  • @Atin
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    2210 months ago

    F-22s using missiles

    • @xX_fnord_Xx
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      310 months ago

      I don’t wanna come back down from this cloud.

    • @Fleamo
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      210 months ago

      If I’m low on hot air I’ll just invite [local politician] on the balloon! Oh ho ho ho

  • SuperDuper
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    1910 months ago

    But we stole a balloon!

    Yeah, on national free balloon day.

  • ArxCyberwolf
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    1810 months ago

    A single monkey with a dart: “I’m aboutta end this man’s whole career”

    • @WolfhoundRO
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      410 months ago

      A single sailor with a harpoon gun: “Tally ho, lads!”

  • @Phegan
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    1310 months ago

    All balloon cops are bastards

  • The Barto
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    1210 months ago

    My country town is really into ballooning, so there’s always a bunch of balloons flying around here and there, so no one would even notice an extra one floating around, unless you were a dick and flying low.