Tom Hamilton
When Balloon Life last profiled the expected transglobal balloon teams in February, 1995 (Who Will Be the First?) there were seven potential contenders. Four of the possible challengers are out of the picture today.
Long time hopeful Julian Nott, Explorer, has all but disappeared from the radar screen. Joe Kittinger, Windstar, has not raised the funds necessary for an attempt. Henk Brink, UNICEF Flyer, abandoned the project after Steve Fossett's envelope troubles in 1996 (Balloon Life, February and March, 1996). Larry Newman, Earthwinds, has decided to change equipment. Newman also lost his main sponsor, Hilton Hotels. To add to his troubles Newman nearly lost his life last year in a parachute accident that keep him in the hospital for a long time.
From the original seven only Per Lindstrand/Richard Branson, Virgin Global Challenger; Bob Martin, Dymocks Odyssey; and Dick Rutan, Voyager, are still in the running. Rutan has secured Hilton and Pepsi as his major sponsors. Martin has found several funding sources in Australia and changed his flight plan to a winter launch from the "land down under." Lindstrand/Branson originally considered using a hot air balloon. Today they are going with the more proven Roziere system.
Joining the race are Steve Fossett, Solo Spirit; Bertrand Piccard and Wim Verstraeten, Breitling Orbiter; and Kevin Uliassi, J. Renee, named after his wife. Uliassi (pronounced oo-lee-OSS-ee), is the newest entrant. Although he made his official announcement October 21, he has been considering his attempt for 11 years. In 1986 Uliassi petitioned the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale to establish rules for an around-the-world balloon record. Piccard and Verstraeten joined the contest last winter with an aborted attempt when a 50 cent clamp failed. Fossett, who quietly began his quest with a warm-up trans-Atlantic flight in 1994, has made two attempts at the record flight. His latest attempt last winter made it approximately halfway. The maneuvering required during flight was underestimated and he did not have enough fuel to try a crossing of the Pacific.
Six teams stand ready this winter to give it a go. Five will be flying Roziere (combination gas/hot air) balloons, four built by Cameron Balloons U.K. All will be trying to ride the sub-tropical jet stream to victory. Only Bob Martin with his high altitude gas balloon is trying a different tactic.
Each team has established a web site to provide information about their plans and to help keep the public updated should they launch. Following is a synopsis of each team's plans.
Steve Fossett
Solo Spirit
Considered by many the front runner
in the transglobal race, Fossett has now made four long distance Roziere
flights. His first was in the summer of 1994 with Tim Cole when they flew
across the Atlantic. First toted as an adventure flight, Fossett was really
getting training for his ultimate goal.
In 1995 Fossett made a solo flight across the Pacific landing in southern Canada. While that flight was also a test/practice for an around-the-world attempt, Fossett would have continued on across North America and the Atlantic if his cabin heater and radio were working.
In 1996 Fossett made his first transglobal launch from the Stratobowl in South Dakota. He believed that it was important to have ample land mass to allow the system to prove itself before attempting the ocean crossing. A wise decision, less than an hour into the flight his envelope began to come apart. The heater and auto-pilot also failed. Finally he made the decision to land in Newfoundland, Canada rather than risk an ocean crossing.
Last winter, after changing his launch point to Bush Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, it all came together. The system worked well after a few inflight adjustments. The fly in the ointment this time was the size of his balloon. How much fuel to carry had been determined in computer models. Having to position the balloon for wind flows resulted in a higher fuel consumption that anticipated. Although the move around Libya gained the headlines, Fossett's team knew by the time he had crossed the Atlantic that there was not enough fuel.
Learning from all his experiences, Fossett is back with a bigger Cameron-built Roziere. This year's model is a 270,000 cubic feet double-skinned envelope. The outer skin is made of a reflective Mylar and is similar to the two balloons that Fossett has used previously.
Fossett will again be planning to launch from Bush Stadium. This year his command center will also be in St. Louis. Bo Kemper, press liaison for Steve's earlier flight, will not be on the team this year. Also missing from the team is Bruce Comstock. Although Bruce has leant assistance to several teams, he is not directly associated with any of the around-the-world attempts this year.
Steve prefers to make the flight using a relatively low-tech approach. Flying solo in a non-pressurized gondola he plans to stay between 20-28,000 feet for most of the flight.
Per Lindstrand/Richard Branson/Rory McCarthy
Virgin Global Challenger
Per Lindstrand told Balloon Life shortly
after his return to England from a successful Pacific crossing by hot air
balloon that he and Richard Branson would fly around the world using hot
air. At that time Richard was a backer of Larry Newman's Earthwinds
project. In 1994 Lindstrand was still proposing to accomplish the flight
with a 3.6 million cubic feet hot air balloon. With the reality that someone
else would probably be first using a Roziere, Lindstrand changed systems.
Lindstrand has designed his own Roziere system and believes that his envelope design is superior to that of rival Don Cameron's. At 1.1 million cubic feet Lindstrand's balloon is the largest of the Rozieres to make the attempt. Lindstrand has refused to discuss the specifics of his design until after the flight is over.
When Fossett took off on his first attempt in 1996 Lindstrand and Branson rushed their equipment to Marrakech, Morocco. They did not want to be left behind. With Fossett's early landing the team was able to regroup and do additional testing.
Although the equipment was waiting in Marrakech the flight and launch team were not. When the favorable weather developed the Virgin team was at home in England. By the time they arrived in Marrakech there were only 24 hours to accomplish what was programmed as 72 hours of work to launch the balloon. Under that time crunch a checklist item was missed. It would eventually lead to the failure of the flight less than 24 hours after takeoff.
Lindstrand has told Balloon Life that his equipment will be in Marrakech ready to go by December 1. He says that they have learned from last year's experience and will be in much better position to capture the elusive goal this year.
The Virgin team will be in a pressurized gondola and expect to spend most of the flight between 30-35,000 feet.
Bertrand Piccard/Wim Verstraeten/Andy Elson
Breitling Orbiter
A surprise entry last year the
Swiss/Belgian/British team is back for another try. Several changes have
been made. The first is the addition of Andy Elson to the flight team. Elson
is no stranger to challenging balloon flights. Already experienced in high
altitude and alpine ballooning, he was one of the four pilots (two balloon
team) that flew over Mount Everest in October, 1991. Elson has also been
on hand to help with the launch of a number of long distance flights in
recent years, including those of Steve Fossett.
With the addition of a new crew member, the Breitling team has acquired a larger envelope. The Cameron R-500 (500,000 cubic feet) is a double-skinned envelope similar to Steve Fossett's. The team will use an experimental kerosene burner system. It was the failure of a clamp last year that doomed the attempt.
The Breitling team will once again be taking off from Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland. They hope to have a favorable weather pattern in January during the balloon week in this alpine town.
Like the Virgin team they will be in a pressurized gondola and plan to fly in the jet stream at 30-35,000 feet.
Dick Rutan/David Melton
Global Hilton
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager made
the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around-the-world in December, 1986.
The flight was accomplished in a special built airplane constructed of space
age composite material, designed and built, by Dick's brother, Burt Rutan.
Since Voyager's world flight, Dick, 59, has been traveling the world on the lecture circuit, telling his tale of the magnificent Voyager project and flight.
In preparation for an assault on the around-the-world balloon flight Dick earned his balloon rating in 1995.
Richard Abruzzo's father, Ben, together with Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman electrified the world in 1978 with the first balloon crossing of the Atlantic. That flight had also become a race with another team waiting to takeoff and many failures preceding it. Ben, Larry and two other pilots became the first across the Pacific by balloon in 1980.
Richard, 34, established his own credentials when he and Troy Bradley crossed the Atlantic in 1992 as part of the Chrysler Challenge balloon race. During that flight they broke the duration record set by Double Eagle II during its Atlantic crossinga record that was broken by Fossett last winter. Richard hopes to recapture the absolute duration record and establish a new distance record with a successful flight around-the-world. Richard has vast experience in both hot air and gas ballooning.
Richard was onboard the January, 1994 Earthwinds flight that had to land near Fresno, California because of a frozen valve in the ballast balloon.
The Global Hilton is a Cameron-built, double-skinned, 420,000 cubic feet balloon. The team plans to launch from Albuquerque, New Mexico in January and fly in a pressurized gondola, built by Burt Rutan, at an altitude of 32-36,000 feet.
Editor's note: David Melton was a late replacement for Richard Abruzzo withdrew from the flight team in late November 1997.
Kevin Uliassi
J. Renee
Kevin Uliassi, 34, has been flying balloons for
16 years. Uliassi lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and his hometown, Chicago,
Illinois. He hopes to launch from somewhere near the Chicago area this winter.
The control center for his flight will be at Illinois Institute of Technology
in Chicago, his alma mater.
The balloon, named J. Renee after his wife of one year, is a Cameron-built Roziere. The volume is 420,000 cubic feet but is not double-skinned like the other Cameron-built around-the-world balloons.
Like Steve Fossett, Uliassi will make the flight solo in an unpressurized gondola. Uliassi is going to extra lengths to combat the fatigue and confused decision-making that can result from solo flight at high altitudes. He is being advised by Dr. Peter Hackett, a physician and expert on high-altitude physiology, who climbed the summit of Mount Everest alone in 1981. Uliassi, like Fossett, also will sleep in a special low-pressure chamber in the final weeks before launch to increase the ability of his blood to carry oxygen.
Uliassi has also gained a sponsor, AmeriFIT, Bloomfield, Connecticut. AmeriFIT, one of the nation's leading providers of nutritional supplements, will provide supplements designed to counter the effect of fatigue, dehydration, muscle loss, cold and oxygen depletion.
By making the flight alone, Uliassi will avoid the increase in envelope and gondola size, oxygen supply, and fuel load that a second pilot would have necessitated. An autopilot, built by Bruce Comstock, will fly the balloon while he handles other chores or sleeps, triggering an alarm should there be a deviation in altitude. Other instruments aboard include radios and a satellite transceiver for navigation and communication.
Uliassi, who began preliminary planning for a global flight 11 years ago, believes that, in addition to the inherent advantages of a simple, lightweight balloon, his flight will have an edge in the meteorology used to select flight trajectory and altitude.
"Meteorology is the most critical element in long-distance flight," Uliassi told Balloon Life. "For this reason, we've chosen Bob Rice, the meteorologist with the most experience in long-distance manned ballooning. He has worked 23 such balloon flights since 1976, including the first successful transatlantic and transcontinental gas balloon flights and the first transatlantic and transpacific hot air balloon crossings.
"He will decide when the balloon launches and will be responsible for plotting its trajectory in the jet stream," says Uliassi. "The polar jet dips as low as 25,000 feet during the fall and winter and reaches speeds of 200 mph or more. The balloon would need to average 85 mph to fly around in 10 days. Bob Rice's ideal flight would take a week, which would require about 115 mph."
Bob Martin/John Wallington
Dymocks Flyer
Like the other participants in
the attempt to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon, Bob Martin has been
planning his project for many years. This one is very different from how
everyone else is planning on making the trip. Bob Martin, 43, will use a
thin polyethylene balloon built by Raven Industries. The flight plan will
take the balloon into the stratosphere to a maximum altitude of 130,000
feet. During the evening cooling, the gas inside will contract and the balloon
will descend. The flight plan calls for the balloon not to descend below
80,000 feet. Then during the next day the sun's heating will cause it to
rise again. This is know as Raccooning, which is short for RAdiation-CONtrolled
Ballooning. Using this technique eliminates the need to carry large amounts
of ballast.
John Wallington, 43, and fellow Australian Dick Smith became the first to cross the Australian continent by balloon in 1993. He has set additional world records in the Roziere class of balloon and has received the FAI's Montgolfier Diploma.
This flight attempt has additional risk factors. Although the flight team will be in a pressurized gondola they will not have space suits. Flying at the edge of space is extremely dangerous should they lose pressure. The thin polyethylene film balloon has about a ten percent failure rate. This is based on the scientific payload flight experiences. Should the envelope rupture there is a parachute that should slow the gondola's descent. If that parachute fails the occupants will have to bailout at a lower altitude and parachute down.
The original flight plan called for a summer launch from Albuquerque, New Mexico when the high altitude winds were most favorable. When Dymocks Booksellers in Australia signed on as a major sponsor, Martin moved the flight to Australia and a winter launch window. A winter launch is more favorable in the southern hemisphere.
Who will be first?
Which of these teams will capture the greatest prize in ballooning? That depends on many different factors. The first of which is weather patterns. There is no assurance that necessary weather pattern will materialize this winter. Once the favorable weather develops the meteorologists will really earn their metal. If you have read Bob Rice's comments beginning on page 16 you will realize that making a flight of this length is more than finding and staying in the jet stream. It will require a great deal of maneuvering to complete the flight.
Second, equipment is the next big question mark. Everybody is flying with a balloon envelope that has not flown before. There could be problems. From falling apart in flight to small leaks, anything can go wrong. Several flights have had to terminate because of failures in other parts. Earthwinds had a valve freeze, Global Challenger the fabric failed and the heater did not work properly, Breitling a clamp failed, Virgin locks were not undone. Equipment will be severely tested in very harsh elements.
Third, the crew has to be able to hold up. The flight is expected to take from seven to 21 days. The longer in a small cramped compartment and possibly unpleasant conditions will test the stamina of all. Steve Fossett has proven his ability to hold up, but he is not invincible. Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson have survived several difficult flights and have proved their ability to hang tough. Richard Abruzzo and Dick Rutan have both been tested in long endurance conditions. Still, the mental and physical abilities of around-the-world pilots will be tested to the maximum.
They all have a chance. Best of luck to them.
Where to find more information
All of the teams have established a homepage on the World Wide Web. Each site has background information on their flight team and equipment. During the actual flights each will post update information to allow the public to follow the flight progress.
Below are the URL's for the six teams and global jet stream maps.
Solo Spirit: http://tacoma.wustl.edu/
Virgin Challenger: http://www.challenger.virgin.net/
Breitling Orbitor: http://www.breitling-orbiter.ch/
Global Hilton: http://www.hilton.com/main/globalhilton/index.html
J.Renee (Uliassi): http://www.j.renee.iit.edu/
Dymocks Flyer: http://www.dymocksflyer.com/
Jet Stream: http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/textonly/weather/hemis.html
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