After many confused HBAL617 and other aircraft with the “spy” balloon whose identity is suspected to be Chinese, Flight Radar 24 issued a clarification on the subject.
Flight Radar 24, which provides real-time traffic data of aircraft and tracking services, is displaying a specific message on its website to confirm whether or not a certain aircraft is a Chinese balloon.
Meanwhile, the HBAL617 balloon, whose path is currently visible on the website, is being tracked by more than 3600 people, at the time of writing this article.
HBAL617 is not the Chinese balloon
Flight Radar 24 has confirmed that HBAL617, which is currently over Alabama, is not the ‘Chinese spy balloon’ that’s in the news.
A tweet from the tracking site’s official account read: “The high altitude balloon currently over the United States being tracked by NORAD is not broadcasting ADS-B and is not visible on Flightradar24.”‘
In the latter part of the same post, the Swedish-based tracking service explains, HBAL617 is a high-altitude research balloon and not a surveillance balloon.
The official site further displays the message, “no, this is not a Chinese balloon,” right below the name of the aircraft or balloon you’re tracking.
Offering more clarification on another research balloon, N257TH, which is also flying at a high altitude, Flight Radar 24 said: “N257TH is a standard high altitude research balloon, often released over the US and is not the Chinese balloon.”
Confusion sweeps Twitter
The Chinese spy balloon has become a hot topic of discussion on social media, with many keen to find out its real-time location. Several people headed over to Flight Radar 24’s website to see where it is and wrongly assumed that HBAL617 is the balloon that’s in the news.
“Chinese spy balloon. HBAL617 on Flight Radar. Just east of Birmingham, AL,” read one tweet.
Another clarified: “Thousands of people are tracking #HBAL617 over Alabama thinking it’s the #ChineseSpyBalloon. It’s not. It’s actually a balloon owned by @RavenAerostar.”
“Umm. HBAL617 is registered in the US. How is this Chinese?” one asked after people wrongly assumed it to be the Chinese balloon.
Another tweet read: “I am seeing HBAL617 on FlightRadar24. It is east of Birmingham. I can’t tell who owns it though. Is this the China balloon?”
Surveillance balloon doesn’t pose any threat
The U.S. government hasn’t confirmed or commented on what exactly the balloon is carrying except describing it as having a “‘payload’ of surveillance equipment hanging from it” with “no evidence of any nuclear or radioactive contents”, New York Post reports.
The Chinese balloon, which was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, February 1, reportedly entered U.S. airspace after flying through Canada from the Aleutian Islands.
In a statement issued yesterday, Pentagon said the high-altitude surveillance balloon doesn’t pose an immediate ‘physical or military’ threat. That’s one of the reasons why they decided not to shoot it down.
In other news, Are there train strikes on February 27th or 28th 2023?