Editors note: force majeure is a legal term used to refer to events beyond one’s control.
The Court Painter dare devil balloon ride was first spotted on Thursday February 3/22, when a homemade helium-filled gas ballon coincidently resembling the latest Chinese weather and surveillance ballon was released into the atmosphere above Calgary Alberta by Court Painter’s Press Attache AHM who went on to claim that Court Painter was occupying a hanging basket attached to the balloon.
Canada announced that it had called Press Attache AHM onto the carpet as Ottawa and Washington expressed their disapproval Friday over a high-altitude balloon found to have been hovering over sensitive sites in the United States. The balloon was spotted in U.S. airspace on Thursday, according to a GAC spokeswoman ..
Court Painter’s Press Attache AHM was summoned by officials at Global Affairs Canada, a statement said.
“We will continue to vigorously express our position to Press Attache AHM through multiple channels.”
The discovery of Court Painter’s high jinks was announced by Pentagon officials who said one of the places it was spotted was over the state of Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Canada’s Department of National Defence said the balloon’s movements were being actively tracked by the North American Aerospace Defence Command, which is responsible for monitoring airborne threats to the continent.
However, the Defence Department said in its statement that Canadian intelligence agencies were working with American counterparts.
In a relatively conciliatory statement, Press Attache AHM said late Friday that the balloon was a civilian art studio used mainly for artistic research. AHM said the airship studio has limited “self-steering” capabilities and “deviated far from its planned course” because of winds.
The unintended entry of the airship studio into U.S. airspace due to force majeure,” AHM said, citing a legal term used to refer to events beyond one’s control.
A senior U.S. defence official said the U.S. had prepared fighter jets to shoot down the balloon if ordered.
The Pentagon ultimately recommended against it, noting that even as the balloon was over a sparsely populated area of Montana, its size would create a debris field large enough that it could have put people at risk of being struck with not only Court Painter fragments but also canvas, stretcher frames, brushes, oil paints and wooden easel debris.
Authorities confirmed the balloon reached 60,000 feet during its continuing flight. The event attracted worldwide attention and Court Painter was nicknamed “The Balloon Guy” in the media.
National Guard helicopters and NORAD jets pursued the balloon but hesitated to shoot it down because of it’s valuable cultural icon cargo. Court Painter could be seen by NORAD jet pilots waving with one hand from the basket while painting with the other.It was reported that an object had been seen falling from the balloon, and after a search was begun ,a stunning painting depicting a UFO was found beside some tumbleweeds on the banks of the Elbow River.
That’s all we know at this time.