The “Chinese Spy Balloon” of February 2023

 

The “Chinese Spy Balloon” of February 2023

Regarding the international incident of the observation and tracking of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the USA in February 2023, it can be noted that several CADORS incident reports during the past 20 years involved high altitude balloons in Canadian airspace reported by pilots.

In 2022, for example, CADORS incident report 2022A0621 concerned a large balloon seen on July 5, 2022, over New Brunswick. That evening, the pilot of an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 from Chicago/O'Hare, IL (KORD) to Rome, Italy (LIRF) reported seeing “...a large white balloon with an attached box and long tail at about FL400 (40,000 feet). They could not tell if the balloon was ascending, descending or in level flight.”

Years earlier, on March 24, 2015, a WestJet Boeing 737 flying from Halifax, NS (CYHZ) to Toronto, ON (CYYZ) descending through 14,000 feet reported an object passing very close to the left side of the aircraft, according to CADORS 2015O0488.

And CADORS 2011O0806, on April 10, 2011, over Chatham, Ontario, when NAV CANADA staff at Toronto ACC were advised by the crew of AAL488 (heading eastbound, descending to 24,000 feet) that they had passed a very large, yellow balloon at 28,000 feet.