Can excaped helium ballons cause, or have caused problems with air traffic.?

Question

Can excaped helium ballons cause, or have caused problems with air traffic.?

Answer 1

Propably not. As the air gets less dense th balloon start's to slow it's ascent and then slowly stops. The rubber usually bursts from the cold and from the expansion in gases. I

Minimum Operating altitude over a densly populated area is 1,000 feet above ground.

Answer 2

If you're talking about helium filled party balloons (like birthday balloons, etc) then l unless a whole bunch of them were released at the same time (thousands+) and near airports, they would pose no threat to air traffic.  If a jet engine or turbo prop sucked up a too many at one time, then you may have a problem, but these engines eat birds often along with other flying debris.

Depending on where they were released/escaped and how much helium was put in them, balloons can survive a long trip.  They can go well above 1000ft before bursting since the atmospheric pressure had not changed that much.

If the balloon was going to burst, it would be because the helium has expanded (in the now less dense air as the the altitude get's higher).  Specially made balloons have gone into space without bursting.

I have heard of no situation where helium balloons have caused air traffic issues accept for the occasionial people that decide to strap a lot to a lawn chair (this has really happened at least twice, both people surviving) and cause air traffic controllers to re-route aircraft.

Answer 3

There are some stories of loose weather balloons interfering with the airways, but, as these are rarely used nowadays, it's not likely to matter.

Small balloons are no problem.