Gene Simmons’ tongue was filmed hanging 20,000 feet in the air over Brazil, dangling from a so-called “tribute balloon.” KISS are currently a couple weeks into their South American “End Of The Road” tour leg and it’s the cause of some high-flying controversy within the flight community.
A member of a Brazilian jet’s flight crew got the footage (seen below) off a mini-hot air balloon suspending a fabric-pic of the KISS bassist’s makeup’ed face in full tongue glory, at significant altitude, in the skies of South America. The original posting is hashtagged #dangerous.
Apparently, these unmanned tribute balloons are a cause of concern among pilots. Scott Bateman, a pilot and YouTuber who hosts an all-things-Aviation show The Layover, retweeted the video, scolding, “These are tribute balloons that are regularly seen in #Brazil and across S America. They pose a real risk to #aircraft and #WePilots need to keep a sharp lookout.”
Gene Simmons retweeted that video, recommending you check it out.
A former NTSB accident investigator says free-floating balloons can be tough for pilots to spot and challenging to avoid, “Balloons can be ingested in the aircraft’s engine, restrict airflow and cause the plane to lose power.” A la flocks of birds. See Sullenberger.
It looks like at some point this thing came down and is now an impressive souvenir in someone’s backyard (or tree.)
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KISS has played four Brazilian shows so far and Simmons has posted some cool media from the shows on Twitter.