Indonesia gets tough on big balloons
Print Edition
Indonesians caught launching big, unmanned hot air balloons could face up to two years in jail or a fine of up to US$35,000, authorities said, after balloons launched to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month forced pilots to divert flights.
Balloons, along with fireworks have long been part of festivities like Eid in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, but with modern materials and designs they have become much bigger.
Some are up to 10 meters in diameter and more than 20 meters high, the transportation ministry said in a statement yesterday that warned of the penalties.
Air Transportation Director General Agus Santoso said some balloons had been “reaching cruise altitude level at 10,000 meters above sea level.”
The transportation ministry issued its statement after pilots sighted dozens of balloons in the skies over the archipelago in the days after Eid, which fell on Friday in Indonesia this year. Most of the sightings were over the provinces of Central and East Java.
Novie Riyanto, head of AirNav Indonesia, said the balloons posed a “very significant” hazard, and there had been 84 sightings over the weekend, prompting complaints from dozens of domestic and international pilots.
“Yesterday a great deal of traffic could not travel on routes, and had to ascend to avoid these balloons,” he said in the statement.
Riyanto added that the airspace over Java was the fifth-most crowded in the world.
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