What Did I See In West Texas From 30K Feet?

[AB3L]

On a recent trip I flew out of Dallas toward Palm Springs California I could see miles of sandy white squares that looked to be connected by roads. It might have been an hour or slightly less from Dallas.
These were as far as the eye could see in my south looking plane window. There were also lines visible that looked as straight as an arrow that formed grids and these looked to connect the squares. I don't remember seeing any sign of life, auto's etc.

My thought is that I was possibly looking at the ghost of the oil industry.  I thought that I might see pumps or derricks in the squares that were left behind but it didn't make sense that they would dismantle each and every one of them.

What in the heck was this??


I am always amazed at the landscape out there in the great expanse of emptyness. Next I'll ask why there is a large "Zepp" looking baloon on a teather out in the middle on nowhere as you get close to California? I have managed to spot this thing twice going to the West Coast. Maybe it some kind of wind indicator??
Perhaps I should get more reading material!!



Thanks.  Bob

[Carl WA1KPD]

Will be flying over Palm Springs to DFW this morning and will watch for it.

I have been back in Sacaramento the last few days and noticed this morning on my way into downtown that close to the city and near the river is what looks like a very long dipole that crosses the highway. It connects to several towers on either side of the highway. (I am coming in from out by the airport and takng the J St exit). Anyone in 6 land know what this is?

[wb1aij]

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I am always amazed at the landscape out there in the great expanse of emptyness. Next I'll ask why there is a large "Zepp" looking baloon on a teather out in the middle on nowhere as you get close to California? I have managed to spot this thing twice going to the West Coast. Maybe it some kind of wind indicator??
Perhaps I should get more reading material!!



Thanks.  Bob

  The "Zepp" looking balloon that you saw is in the Yuma Proving Grounds where the military tests equipment. The balloon is tethered but according to aviation sectional charts occupies the airspace up to 29000 feet. In reality it doesn't go up that high; I have been by it many times and estimated the altituge to be between 3000 & 5000 ft. AGL. Its purpose is to monitor the Mexican border with radar. There is one balloon just east of San Diego, one just north of Yuma Arizona, and another near Douglas or Tuscon Arizona. I did a lot of backpacking in that area in the late 80s & early 90s while working out there so I know the lay of the land real well.

[WA1GFZ]

My last trip to DFW we flew between thunder heads and lightning was coming down beside the plane. I have made the trip east west many times and usually get a sore neck looking out the window at the various sights on the ground.

[N8ECR]

I was out west about 8 years ago, I noticed the squares, and circles in side of them, and a few of them were 4 squares with a large circle inside, I thought these might be some type of irregation systems for farmer, I thought the area from my guess was Olahoma or Kansas.

Are you sure you were not much more to the North than you thought.

However there use to be vegitable farms in the western parts of Texas; near, but east of EL Paso.  could be them.

[Jim, W5JO]

Out in West Texas the grid squares you saw are called section lines which are formed by roads.  They are the result of the survey that was done many years ago to lay out the country.  Each is a mile long by a mile wide.  From your description you may have been North of I 20, for South of there they are not as prevalent. 

From about Midland/Odessa North is where the circles are.  Those are large circular irrigation systems that may be 1/4 mile radius.  They travel in a circle watering crops, usually wheat or milo.  Much of the milo is used to feed cattle in the feedlots that are scattered near there all the way North into South Dakota.  Corn is also grown and watered in that fashion but not as much since it is a row crop that needs to be harvested by a combine with a special attachment.

Many people don't realize that driving I 20 from Ft. Worth to El Pasos takes over 10 hours with little to break the horizon.  I don't recall exactly how many miles it is, but you will travel over 500 miles.  There are stretches of I 20 that are over 50 miles long between any towns.

The baloons are the radar baloons that watch for aircraft coming in from Mexico illegally.  As you noticed there is lots of space where drug smuggling planes can land, and the baloons were establlished back in the 80s to identify them.  There is also baloons near Demming, NM and somewhere in South Texas near Laredo as I recall. 

I have flown small planes in that area many times and it is a sight to see them in the distance with the sun reflecting off their surface.  Even at 50 miles or more away they look like a giant star.  They were put there because of political pressure from the war on drugs.  They have a pretty good record of tracking planes and turning them over to Air Traccfic Control to track to their final destination.  With all the emptyness out there you can imagine smugglers can land most anywhere undected before they were put in place.

[John Holotko]

The baloons are the radar baloons that watch for aircraft coming in from Mexico illegally.  As you noticed there is lots of space where drug smuggling planes can land, and the baloons were establlished back in the 80s to identify them.  There is also baloons near Demming, NM and somewhere in South Texas near Laredo as I recall. 

I have flown small planes in that area many times and it is a sight to see them in the distance with the sun reflecting off their surface.  Even at 50 miles or more away they look like a giant star.  They were put there because of political pressure from the war on drugs.  They have a pretty good record of tracking planes and turning them over to Air Traccfic Control to track to their final destination.  With all the emptyness out there you can imagine smugglers can land most anywhere undected before they were put in place.

No doubt they detect planes pretty well but they sure as hell didn't put much of a dent in the drug traffic.   I guess they found other ways to smuggle stuff  in. Or maybe they use stealth aircrafe these days    With the money they make off the drug trade  they can probably afford it 

I remember seeing those grid and circles when I flew over that area several years ago. Theydo look weird from high up. I didn't notice the blimps though.

[WA1GFZ]

The circles are farms. The water in big circles unless you are over Edwards AFB...then they look like targets in the sand

[wb1aij]

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/tars.htm

Here is a link to info on the "Aerostat" balloons

enjoy

bob
WB1AIJ

[John K5PRO]

Jim, W5JO, is correct with the irrigation circles and the section lines. The sandy white squares could have been gas well pads, as they are cleared off and have a nearly invisible (from 30K above) 'christmas tree' of valves and pipes sticking up in the center. A lot of them are even plugged wells, with no connection anymore. The producing wells will have a dewatering machine/tank, and a little pipe that releases sour gas, and sometime a big one banger engine/compressor in a tin shed. And a network of roads connecting them to the world, with pipelines lying along the roads. We have lots of these  in SE New Mexico too, but the # grows exponentially when you cross the line into Texas, where petroleum industry is king. Remember the movie Giant with James Dean?

[Jim, W5JO]

[

I've been known to release lots of sour gas. Now...if only I could heat the house with it...

K2 Passing Gas

You could if you can pass enough.  It is called methane

[k4kyv]

The producing wells will have a dewatering machine/tank, and a little pipe that releases sour gas

What exactly is sour gas?  I also hear stories in the news about sweet crude. 

It has always seemed to me a big waste when they flare off gas.  Couldn't they use that wasted energy for something, if nothing else for heating or air conditioning the control rooms?  I wish I had that waste gas on my property.  It would certainly save me money on my heating bill.  I could probably run my transmitter 24/7 off just one flare.

Maybe they could mix the sweet crude and sour gas, and send it to China.

[Jim, W5JO]

Good idea Don.  Sweet Crude or Light Sweet Crude as it was once called contains very little sulphur and other contaminants; therefore it's products are much cleaner when distilled into it's components.  One time back it was called West Texas Light Sweet Crude until some liberl in NY complained and it is now just Light Sweet Crude.  The oil from Texas and that in Pennsylvania is the purest found in the world.

Sour Gas is Methane which was burned off because mixing it with the noticable aeromatic agent, so a person could smell it if the pipes in your house leak, caused an unbelievable smell.  They have pretty much corrected that today and in the Wyoming oil fields they are drilling for Methane to put into your pipes.  Enjoy the smell.  Out near the oil fields of West Texas, it is called the smell of money.

[AB3L]

The sandy white squares could have been gas well pads, as they are cleared off and have a nearly invisible (from 30K above) 'christmas tree' of valves and pipes sticking up in the center. A lot of them are even plugged wells, with no connection anymore. The producing wells will have a dewatering machine/tank, and a little pipe that releases sour gas, and sometime a big one banger engine/compressor in a tin shed. And a network of roads connecting them to the world, with pipelines lying along the roads. We have lots of these  in SE New Mexico too, but the # grows exponentially when you cross the line into Texas, where petroleum industry is king. Remember the movie Giant with James Dean?

OK, that sounds like what I saw. I suppose the distance between them, which from that height seemed to be a few miles, protected each well from an adjacent fire. It looked to be a pretty good drive to get to the next "neighbor".

I can vouch for the endless scenery. We drove from California to Florida once, came across 15 and then to 10 if I remember right. It took us two night stays to get thru Texas with not much to look at. One thrill was the El Paso Southern Pacific yard and engine facility but then it was back to rocks and sand. That was in the early 70's.

Thanks also for the info on the baloons. They are larger than I thought and I would have guessed that there would have been far more than the twelve mentioned in the story..

[Jim, W5JO]

The spacing between wells is partly that, but more the fact that Texas has some rules and regulations that require spacing of wells.  It has to do with the amount of oil or gas that can be removed from the ground.  Since the minerals don't follow the arbitrary lines we have established for ownership purposes, they lie under different owner's property.

So, to make it fair, they specify how long a given well can be run then switch to another location even though it is in the same pool.  Also the mineral right owners get what is called a depletion allowance or tax break.  Their taxes are reduced since they are removing a product that is taxed and as it is depleted there is less to tax.

A lot of wells in West Texas are owned by a permanent turst fund set up by the state government to fund certain colleges in the state.  Texas University, Texas A&M and several others.  The profit from those wells go into the trust fund to be split among them. 

OK, that sounds like what I saw. I suppose the distance between them, which from that height seemed to be a few miles, protected each well from an adjacent fire. It looked to be a pretty good drive to get to the next "neighbor".