Cyclone GABRIELLE


Is everything OK in you neck of the woods Radar? I’ve seen where Cyclone Gabrielle has smashed the North Island of New Zealand. Yell if we can help mate.

I will flick him a txt mate..he hasnt been on here for quite some time.
the reports Im seeing,and hearing from relatives,there is a huge mess up there. houses buried under silt in places,so new ground level higher than roofs. will be a BIG rebuild and infrastruture will need to be rethought . no point in rebuilding stuff in same places to be smashed again.

Radar and family are fine....he says its a hell of a big mess and what we seeing in media dont do the scale of it justice..its huge mess with a huge amount of people effected.

Elvis wrote:

Radar and family are fine....he says its a hell of a big mess and what we seeing in media dont do the scale of it justice..its huge mess with a huge amount of people effected.

Thanks Elvis…I tried sending Radar a txt, but it wouldn’t go through. Luckily it seems all is good with Radar and Nat.

We haven't heard much about the North Island on the news. Some high muckety-muck over here has been popping balloons like they were a kid at a birthday party.

You all stay safe!

slimjim wrote:

We haven't heard much about the North Island on the news. Some high muckety-muck over here has been popping balloons like they were a kid at a birthday party. You all stay safe!

Awe c’mon Slim, haven’t you always wanted to pop a balloon wiv an anti aircraft missile, something like a AIM 9?

At $400,000 a pop?

Evidently it's fixed. I'm in again. Thanks Vince.

Glad you figured it out Bushy. I was just pm'ing with Vince over that.

-DallanC

I had to wait until evening to try again. That's when it let me in.

and it now comes out the balloons were privately owned and nothing to do with Asian dreams of world domination LOL.... now Im pretty sure the odd zeppilin and many many observer balloons were taken out of action with a biplane and .303brit delivered from a lewis gun..... to be sure these few were at high altitude but still ,your fellas have the capacity to get up that height and a few rounds of 50cal would take care of the rest....would have been a darn sight easier to recover them too,much slower decent....

Elvis, I've read that the high-altitude balloons up at 60,000ft are not easy to shoot down with bullets. There is so little air pressure, that a bunch of holes do little to release air.

Also, a gun is for close-in engagements. The closure rate of an F-22 at that altitude (only US fighter that can operate that high) with a balloon that is essentially motionless, is a fraction of a second that is too risky for a human to try.

the old timers learnt to shoot tracer through top of balloon to release air/gas and then shoot above it where air/gas mixture was right for ignition..fraction of second and risk..sounds like a challenge 99% of pilots would give left testicle to have a go at...... hold my beer mate,Im off on mission nearly impossible,big wigs think it cant be done. and little air pressure and slow release would mean slow decent=follow it downwards and recover it whole,or resonably intact to work out who and why its sent....
just seems like great way to waste nearly half million bucks ,keep sending them and bankrupt the US.... sounds like plan.

Elvis wrote:

the old timers learnt to shoot tracer through top of balloon to release air/gas and then shoot above it where air/gas mixture was right for ignition...

I think one of the issue is also that the balloon could be (and most likely) filled with HELIUM and helium do not burn.

gelandangan wrote:

Elvis wrote: the old timers learnt to shoot tracer through top of balloon to release air/gas and then shoot above it where air/gas mixture was right for ignition... I think one of the issue is also that the balloon could be (and most likely) filled with HELIUM and helium do not burn.

Maybe it’s helium that identifies as hydrogen…hydrogen go BOOM… um, hang on, that won’t work either…just because it identifies as hydrogen doesn’t make it hydrogen.

My head hurts.

Any more word on Radar? How's he and family doing?