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A quiet chat with a retired pilot in Boise made me question the whole 'weather balloon' thing

I was having a coffee at a diner in Boise about three months ago, sitting next to an older guy in a worn-out flight jacket. We got talking, and he told me he flew cargo planes for 30 years. He leaned in and said, 'I saw something over the Rockies in '92 that climbed straight up faster than anything we have. They told me it was swamp gas. You ever seen a swamp at 28,000 feet?' He just shook his head and went back to his pie. That simple question from a guy who knows the sky has stuck with me ever since. Has anyone else had a normal conversation that suddenly made the official explanations seem totally weak?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden1mo ago

Swamp gas? I mean, what's next, they blame a high-altitude squirrel?

kaigibson1mo ago

Remember that time @the_hayden when the weather balloon explanation got floated for that weird light show over Phoenix? My cousin swore it was aliens and spent a whole summer building a tin foil hat business in his garage. It didn't last, but he made some wild lawn ornaments.

blair_nguyen1mo ago

But what if it was swamp gas?