new kind of fireworks ?

[Tractorat]

I saw a kind of firework Ive never seen before. I looked up in the sky and saw something that at first i thought was an airplane. Nope. Then I thought maybe it was a helicopter. Nope. Possibly a UFO ? Someone said it was a "lantern" that flies and is kept aloft by a hot air balloon or something like that. It glowed orange and must have been a pretty good size flame. We saw several of them last night at pretty good altitude, and going south with the wind. Anyone know anything about these ?



What really surprises me is that I cant believe that these are legal. They stay lit for a long time. In fact, I didnt see any go out. I could see them until they got so far away, I couldnt see them any more. If one were to come down on someones house or dry grass etc, there is going to be a fire.



The japanese had a weapon kind of like this in WWII. They were fire balloons that they flew over the NW in hopes of starting huge forest fires. They actually were successful in starting a couple of fires. But the US kept it quiet so they wouldn't know how successful they actually were.

 

[The patriot]

People with a little ingenuity can make these by hand.

I cant imagine someone smart enough to make one be dumb enough to set it afloat.

Especially with all the fires out west.

 

[Tractorat]

I looked them up on the internet. If I found the right thing, they are commercially made, not by hand.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Japanese candle lanterns float on water and in the air. Thailand Buddhists do it also as a gift to Buddha. Actually really neat to see. Don't know if this is near or anything like what you looked at some have a long delay fuse and it floats up and then sets off fireworks.

 

[Tractorat]

That looks like what I saw. Only just one or two at at time. My neighbor said she thought they came from mexico. The ones I saw seemed to be much higher in the sky.

 

[The patriot]

I still dont think I'd set one off with all the dry tinder & such.

JM. 02

 

[kcv67]

We had one fly over our house and settle in a corner of our five acres and promptly start the field on fire!!!



Casey

 

[Tractorat]

I just cant believe those things can be legal.

 

[BIGNASTY]

As with most fireworks COMMON SENSE is the key and not many have the key or the lock that it goes in. Our town ban them and I for one LOVE THE IDEA of it. They had a very nice display down at the airport and it was fun for all. The nicest thing is that you didn't read or hear about some kid blowing off fingers or loosing an eye.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

The good ones will fly high and burn out long before settling back to earth. Of course the operator needs to be smart enough to know how to use them and to determine if conditions will allow their use. They operate like a hot air balloon. You don't release them until there is sufficient hot air in the "balloon". AND don't use them if you tear holes in the casing. A premature launch or torn case will result in a bounce launch. Properly launched they quickly and gracefully reach for toward the heavens. Although I agree - I wouldn't use one in a dry tender area. We were pretty damp from a day of rain, and the pastures were fairly green on the eve of the 3rd. Launched a few of them after the BIG fireworks. Wondered if the surrounding denizens would report UFOs.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

As with most fireworks COMMON SENSE is the key and not many have the key or the lock that it goes in. Our town ban them and I for one LOVE THE IDEA of it. They had a very nice display down at the airport and it was fun for all. The nicest thing is that you didn't read or hear about some kid blowing off fingers or loosing an eye.

Yeppers... Common Sense is no longer a requisite item for life. Nobody is responsible for their own actions... everyone else is responsible for "your" screw-ups. Kinda like the poor good samaritan between TRat an me. They cleaned up the spent fireworks on their block and put it in their van for disposal the following day. Well, apparently they forgot to insure there were no smoldering carcasses and awoke to their van in flames. Of course KIRO news said it was a fireworks caused fire. Just another case where one fool ruins it for 100,000 smart individuals.

 

[rscurtis]

I don't think I would necessarily agree with your 100,000:1 ratio. I think it's more like 1:1, except on the TDR.

 

[bighammer]

I've heard them called Chinese wishing lanterns. I still have a few of them left over from our family reunion a couple years ago.

This video is from a town in Poland that launched 11,000 of them to break/set a world record. Pretty cool.

11'000 lanterns - Poland take the world record | Wishlantern - YouTube
#ad

 

[Blu-meanie]

Japan sent a bunch of those over here to start fires in WWII. Didn't work out that well, fortunately.

 

[MLee]

I think that Justin Bieber did something like this a few months back at a party he had.

 

[BIGNASTY]

This is why I WISH THEY WOULD BAN ALL FIREWORKS people are just A HOLES every place. Turn something that has been a family gathering for years and years into a way to show their kids that there parents were some of the biggest A Holes there has been.





News crew, police safe after fireworks attack | Tulsa World

 

[rscurtis]

Fireworks are legal in PA and are sold all over the place prior to the 4th. My neighborhood is as quiet as a mouse on the 4th. When I lived in NY where they were illegal, some neighborhoods sounded like war zones, you couldn't even talk on the phone due to the background noise.



I have a hunch the results would be similar if we ended the trillion $ "War on Drugs".