Might be construed to be IFR I guess, but I suspect that would not be the main reason the FAA might want to talk to him...

You have to remain either "clear of clouds" or abide by the prescribed horizontal distance from that cloud to maintain VFR.

Not only clear of clouds, but I hope he was able to remain outside all other areas of Class B and C airspace since I presume he's not transponder equipped. Heck, I wonder if he even had enough surface area to be a radar target so that other aircraft could be advised to avoid him.

I imagine his variable altitude between 11,000 and 13,000 ft wasn't within VFR guidelines either unless he stuck 11,500 (eastbound). Then again, w/o ATC, you can only guess your altimeter setting, or rely on GPS

I'm sure the FAA wouldn't mind talking to him. Though I'm not sure he has any license to pull as the article I saw never mentioned, so he might only be subject to fines again.

Hard to do in a lawnchair tho. I wonder if his rig comes close to meeting the def. of a hot air baloon, and what flight/licensing rules they have to follow? Seems to me that they would have a hard time getting him for floating uncontrolled thru a cloud, but could get him for being there in the first place...

It depends on just what he meant by "Flying thru Clouds". It could be literally flying through one or more Clouds, -Or,-It could be similar as when one says that they were walking thru "the Weeds or Bushes". This latter in the Meaning of one's *Passing* Thru, and By them, -Not literally walking right through them.

Of course there *could possibly* be other FAA issues there, -in either case.

So I guess that even if he were just "brushing by" the Clouds, -rather than literally Flying right on thru them, (as I spoke on earlier), -that he was still technically violating such Distance Minima.

From Altitudes of at least several thousand feet AGL, -its Surprising what you can hear from down below. Especially in Stiller Air. People Talking, Dogs Barking, etc. Just ask many a Ballooner!

I know that the Higher you keep on getting up, -the more Difficult this Audability is.

Just look at how Silent, or Nearly Silent, -that typical Contrail producing Airliners are in their Cruise, -from our Vantage Points down below. True also, -there is also much Thinner Air at such Heights with which to Carry such Sound. But I don't think that this can account for all of such Silence. Sound of course recedes with Distance, and thus Altitude, anyway.

But still, -I'd reasonably think that such Ground Sounds could possibly Carry round 10,000 to 15,000 feet, -but as for Certainty on that, -I simply don't know.

And so on his hearing Gunshots, -Such may well *Not* have been aimed upward toward him.

If on the Contrary they were, -which I again so very much Doubt, -I Second the View that it would have to be Some Kind of Gun!