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Please provide the citation for this requirement? What laws or regulations have this requirement?

7400.2P - https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pham_htm...

They list the air space requirements, the MSL's, the procedures, etc. 500ft AGL isn't set in stone but it's the moment when you would enter an airspace should you be in one. This is why people go out to the deserts where there's no airspace and the minimums are FL10.

That entire section is about amateur rockets; nothing there applies to balloons.

Jesus, fine, here’s the parts about unmanned balloons since you need explicit instructions.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html...

In aviation, the onus is on you to lookup the right regulations for flight. Ignorance isn’t a valid defence.

You linked to the wrong section (again); that covers how ATC should handle unmanned balloons, not what the balloon operator should do. You probably meant [FAR part 101](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F...), of which subpart D covers unmanned balloons. But it looks like for anything under 6 lbs, most of the requirements don't apply, except to file NOTAM and notify the nearest ATC when you launch/descend and a few other things.

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