Brent E. Zepke
The farmer saw a white object in the clear Montana skies on the fourth Saturday of January, the 28th.
His first reaction was to grab a cell phone and submit his photo to the local newspaper. Gosh, times have changed from my youth when our reaction might have been to think of the intro to a popular radio show of “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s …” What were the reactions to the photos?
The telephones of Montana Gov. Mike DeWine ran off the hook searching for answers that he did not have, but he reached out to President Joe Biden for answers. What did the president say?
Nothing because it was a Saturday, and President Biden has spent 164 Saturdays in the silence that surrounds his Delaware houses. Unfortunately, this time it proved the wisdom of the line “Silence like a cancer grows” from the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence.” And grow it did.
Since the photo showed a round, white object, it was believed to be a balloon.
When my friend Francis X. O’Sullivan, the 6’5” former Marine captain said “People want a complete story, so when some facts are missing, they tend to ‘fill-in’ the story circle by adding something that sounds right to them,” I listened because his deep voice was full of wisdom: Semper Fi.
Since the concept of a balloon being able to carry something as heavy as a person was demonstrated centuries ago by none other than Ben Franklin, the “fill-ins,” necessary by the absence of our president, began with the story that it might be a weather balloon that had drifted off course from China. Or was it Russia?
Another “fill-in” — that it was an Unidentified Flying Object — caused stories of pilots, both military and civilian, seeing strange objects standing still or flying at supersonic speeds.
Once the weekend passed, while the balloon was leisurely moving over the U.S., the president gave one of his crisps “over the shoulder” responses to the question of why he had not ordered it shot down with “I gave the order to the Pentagon three days ago.” Mr. President, the Pentagon is a building. Who was that person, or persons, who refused a presidential order?
As the days drifted by, and the balloon drifted over the U.S., including missile sites, the “fill-in” became that it was too dangerous to shoot down over the wildernesses of Alaska, Canada or Montana, because the waste might fall on people. Unexplained was the reason that it was not shot down as soon as it was spotted in U.S. airspace over the Aleutian Island where we have an observation post.
As the balloon continued its journey over the U.S., the “fill-ins” became that the military blocked their transmissions, then that they learned from it. Really? They learned from blocked transmissions after they blocked them?
On the Saturday before the president’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, the balloon completed its trip over the U.S. As it started over the Atlantic Ocean, it was shot down under the orders from President Biden.
Could it have been a “weather balloon” that drifted off course?
“Balloons,” or dirigible balloons, are lighter than air aircraft that can carry things heavier than air. The three main types are zeppelins, which have a structural framework to keep their shape; semi-rigid balloons, with a metal keel at the bottom of their structure; and non-rigid balloons, which are commonly called “blimps.” All rely on the internal pressures of their gas to hold their structures.
In 1925, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. began building blimps. In 1937, the Germans demonstrated that their flight paths could be controlled as they carried passengers from Germany to the U.S. in the Hindenburg before it burst into flames as it landed in New Jersey, killing 35 people on board.
During World War II, blimps were used for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare that required controlling their flights. Indeed, as late as in the 1970s, George Carny, a colleague and former blimp pilot, said security prevented his discussing exactly how these were used during World War II.
Today George’s training would be valuable as the training is costly compared to the 17 hours needed to learn to fly a single-engine plane, as blimp pilot training takes 250-400 hours of training before their first solo trip in an airship. This may be part of the reason that the Federal Aviation Administration estimates only 17, of the 128 people in the U.S. qualified to fly airships, are paid to do it.
Today the cost to build and operate one has become very expensive as airships require a large amount of helium, which can cost $10,000, or more for one trip, and the world-wide helium shortage keeps driving up the price.
As February progressed, the public was not concerned about whether there was a pilot or the cost, but were any of the “fill-ins” true? President Biden relied on the ole dependable “it also happened during Trump’s administration.” After all the key players and the North American Aerospace Defense Command denied it, the president’s “fill-in” became “It was a small group at the Pentagon who did not notify the White House.” Surprise! The members of this “group” remain unnamed.
The State of the Union speech ushered in a “get tough” program that led to the shooting down of four more flying objects, including an alleged balloon launched by a U.S. group of people.
The Chinese proved theirs was a spy blimp by demanding the return of the contents of their balloon or they would impose sanctions on the U.S. defense contractors Boeing, Lockheed and Raytheon.
President Joe Biden flew to Europe while Secretary of State Anthony Blinken finally said that it was “A spy balloon engaged in active surveillance of sensitive military operations.”
The events on the fourth Saturday in January should be remembered for making us “fill-in” how much different the events would have been if our president had acted decisively, or if he had taken responsibility for not acting, or if it was some other country besides China, or if the third line of “It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s Superman” were true.
Brent E. Zepke is an attorney, arbitrator and author who lives in Santa Barbara. His website is OneheartTwoLivescom.wordpress.com. Formerly, he taught law and business at six universities and numerous professional conferences. He is the author of six books: “One Heart-Two Lives,” “Legal Guide to Human Resources,” “Business Statistics,” “Labor Law,” “Products and the Consumer” and “Law for Non-Lawyers.”
ELSEWHERE IN VOICES
Columnist Arthur Cyr looks at the history of military balloons. C3.
