The 9th World Gas Balloon Championship

The 9th World Gas Balloon Championship, held in Bitterfeld, Germany, August 27 through September 3, had 17 teams competing. Three from USA; Levin/Sullivan, Woods/Staley and Piccard/Chapman, 6 from Germany, 3 from Austria, 3 from Switzerland and 1 each from Poland, Sweden and France. Fink/Hassold of Germany took 1st, Levin/Sullivan of USA were 2nd, and German team Menger/Beermann got 3rd.

The town of Bitterfeld was selected for the Championship, first because of it’s long history associated with ballooning. The first gas balloons were launched here in 1904. And because of their copious production of phosphorus, chloride and pharmaceuticals, they have an abundant by-product, hydrogen. In fact, the launch area was situated next to a hydrogen pipeline, very convenient for the balloons to be filled.

During the first briefing, Competition Director, Markus Haggeney, commented about the “highly sensitive” areas around Bitterfeld. At first we didn’t know what that meant, but in talking with some of the German pilots and crews, “it” meant “highly polluted”. European gas pilots who flew this area in the early 1990’s were warned not to fly over or even near the smokestacks due to the deadly toxic chemicals. During this competition similar warnings, though not as strongly worded, were given.

The town of Bitterfeld, as well as all of the former East Germany, is undergoing tremendous change. The road construction was quite a challenge for the crews because virtually every town had streets torn up. The stark contrast of the old, closed factories, plants and government buildings and the new brightly lit gas stations and Japanese car dealerships was astounding. A lot of construction is completed, but much, much more needs to be done.

Due to bad weather, the first flight, which consisted of 3 tasks, wasn’t launched until early Thursday morning, August 30. Task 1 was a Judge Declared Goal with 4 goals north of Bitterfeld near Berlin to chose from. Task 2 was a Fly On of at least 30 km and Task 3 was a Long Distance Within a Boundary. The boundary was Germany. The balloons were filled in a light rain on Wednesday afternoon, August 29, and the task briefing was held at 11:00 p.m. that night. The weather window allowed for the expertly called 3 part task and the balloons gently lifted off into the cool, moonlit night. The forecast indicated the wind would take them over Berlin during the night, prior to the 3 airports opening at 6:00 a.m. The pilots would plan to drop their second marker mid- morning and then fly on to northern-most Germany to the Baltic Sea by noon, and land before the thermals started developing.

The wind near the sea was about 20 knots, stronger than anticipated for the landings. I was observing for Josef Starkbaum of Austria, who broke his ankle during the landing, and dropped out of the competition. My husband, Mike, also an observer, was flying with Thomas Fink of Germany. After an 8 1/2 hour flight, their balloon went out over the Baltic Sea and approached a German peninsula, a landing site they didn’t want to miss. Mr. Fink, two time World Gas Champion, made a fast, but well executed landing.

Right: World Champians Willie Eimer (r) and Bernal Landsmann (l) of Germany, flank American observer, Jim Thomson.
The “Met Man,” Thomas Endrulat, forecasted the weather almost perfectly, not only for the first 3-part task, but for the remaining 2 flights. Other than missing the surface wind forecast for the first flight, the “Met Man” was right on target. At one briefing, he predicted rain, and within a few seconds, we could hear the drops on the briefing tent roof. Another time he said there would be gusty winds and almost immediately the sides of the tent billowed in.

The .second flight had 2 Multiple Judge Declared Goals. I flew with German pilots Josef Hohl and Florian Schwingenstein. Launching at 5:23 a.m., we were the first balloon off. Not only was this my first gas balloon flight, but the first time in my career as a hot air pilot that I flew at night. I was experiencing “sensory overload”! The third flight had 3 tasks, a Judge Declared Goal, a Pilot Declared Goal and a Long Distance with a Time Limit of five hours. My second gas flight was with Swiss pilots Max Imatepf and Karl Spenger. It was September 2nd, and Mr. Spenger’s 25th Anniversary of gas balloon flight.

For five hour we drifted over small villages, rivers and castles on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. As we made our approach for landing, we could hear lively German music drift up from a castle below. The landowner later told me a party was held to celebrate the castle’s first written documentation, some 950 years ago. It was then a Czar gave the castle to his wife so she would have a place to go for “happy times”. What a guy!