Balloon
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 15
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
Procedure
There was a weather balloon launched earlier in the day and when I got back on position it had started its descent. We did not have any reliable data for where this weather balloon was except for what the supervisor was telling us from the computer which was tracking it via GPS. We had one aircraft that got a visual on it for a short period of time but couldn't maintain sight of it so the aircraft started to maneuver to avoid the area where the balloon was last seen. The aircraft that reported seeing it indicated he thought it was about the same altitude at FL380 while the supervisor information was showing that the balloon was at FL300. I was working the RSH sector and the balloon was last reported right above all of the ORD inbounds that I had at FL280. I made numerous calls as to where the balloon was last sighted and what the last known altitude was but I had no valid information as to where this balloon was in relation to the airplanes in my sector. This has to be one of the most unsafe things that I have witnessed. For there to be an unmanned balloon going to almost FL1000 and then back to the ground right through a major stream of aircraft and a busy airway without the ability to see it or give traffic information made me feel helpless when advising these aircraft about the hazard that was flying in front of them. It felt like I was trying to tell the aircraft how to find the needle in a haystack hoping that they didn't get their finger pricked while they were looking only the finger prick would have been an aircraft hitting a 12lb object on a balloon. I would recommend that any balloon that is going to go into the Class A airspace has to have an operating transponder so that we can track where it is and provide accurate information to the aircraft that are in our sectors. Without an operating transponder they are not allowed to launch the balloon period.
ZID Controller reported of a weather balloon that was not equipped to show where its location was. Controller reported aircraft saw the balloon and reported it to him. Controller thought this was an unsafe practice.