One other white balloon allegedly flying in an space between Hawaii and California.

The “balloon” saga continues: on Feb. 19, 2023, a big white balloon was reported over the Pacific ocean, roughly 600 miles to the northeast of Honolulu. The white balloon was reported to be at an altitude between FL400 and 500 (50,000 toes), in worldwide airspace between Hawaii and California.

The presence of the thing was introduced by Oakland Oceanic ATC in an ACARS (Plane Communications Addressing and Reporting System) message that requested all flights to report back to the Air Site visitors Management Heart if the balloon was seen. The ACARS is an automatic VHF communication system utilized by business planes to transmit and obtain messages from floor services (airline, upkeep division, plane or system producer, ATC and so forth).

One other balloon watch in impact. This one is being reported at ~1000km east of Honolulu at 26.39 N 150.21 W. A number of ACARS messages like those under about a big white balloon between FL400-500. N572DZ (Delta flight 837) was knowledgeable as a result of they went proper by the placement. https://t.co/YbNrFOyDcN pic.twitter.com/Hsc7Fwi8Q9

— IntelWalrus (@IntelWalrus) February 20, 2023

No further element is thought on the time of writing however the U.S. Indo Pacific Command stated they’re investigating the reports.

I can’t say it’s associated, however a BUPERS SDC Dallas Boeing P-8 “SHINR02” launched from Honolulu round 0230 Zulu and went “Due Regard” flying within the route of the reported balloon 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️ H/T @nameyousir and @Stalsomething for the heads up. Audio https://t.co/A4HpPcWVyn… https://t.co/a9cYKZws0o pic.twitter.com/hl0hIHdtqx

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) February 20, 2023

The newest reported sighting of a balloon comes as sightings of balloon-shaped objects have multiplied internationally.

The primary one was the well-known Chinese language excessive altitude balloon, suspected to hold SIGINT gear, that flew over central U.S. earlier than being shot down off South Carolina on February 4, 2023, by an F-22 Raptor. Whereas the incident continues to be being investigated, it’s value of be aware that the U.S. army has just lately stated that earlier than being blown off target by prevailing winds, the Chinese language balloon had a trajectory that may have taken it over Guam and Hawaii, roughly the place the one on Feb. 19 was allegedly noticed.

Three further unidentified objects, later confirmed to have been a lot smaller business or analysis balloons, had been additionally noticed and shot down over Alaska, Canada e Lake Huron final week. Different balloons had been additionally reported over Romania and shot down over Ukraine.

On  Feb. 14, the Japanese MOD stated that primarily based on additional evaluation, it strongly presumed balloon-shaped flying objects noticed over Japan in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, had been unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China.

David Cenciotti is a journalist primarily based in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and browse army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and lots of others, masking aviation, protection, struggle, trade, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with completely different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Power, a non-public pilot and a graduate in Pc Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.