September 2000
Aviation
TheNational AeronauticAssocia-
tion announced that seven persons were
selected to receive the prestigious Elder
Statesman ofAviation award for 2000.
They are Gladys Dawson Buroker, Jack
Eggspuehler,LoisFeigenbaum,Buck
Hilbert, John Roach, Merv Strickler, and
Kenneth Wofford.
TheElderStatesmanofAviation
Award was established in 1954 to honor
outstanding Americans who,by the ef-
forts over a period of years, have made
contributionsof significantvalue toaero-
nautics and havereflected credit upon
America and themselves.
Gladys Dawson Buroker’s career in
aviation spans six decades. Oneof the
groundbreakingfemalesinpoweredflight
she has flown almost 20,000 hours. Her
flying career began in 1932 with her first
lesson.Shesoonbecame involvedinbarn-
storming, performing parachuting expo-
sitions throughout the Northwest. Even-
tuallyshe became one of the firstmodern
hot air balloon pilots in the Northwest.
Gladys taught a number of the early North-
west balloonists to fly. With this honor
she becomes the first female balloonist
selected for this prestigious aviation award.
The Federal Aviation Administration
has created anew web site forFederal
Aviation Regulation Part61questions
and answers. FAR Part61 questions sub-
mitted to the FAA Headquarters and the
answers provided arenow listed at the
followingnew location.To accessthe site
goto: http://afs600.faa.gov. Onthe leftof
the screen click on “AFS640.”Next click
on subject noted as “Other.” Next, click
on the caption area noted as “FAQ” to
arrive at the question and answer docu-
ments.
Avaluableweathersiteis ajoin
project between the FAA and the National
WeatherService.TheAviation Digital
DataService(ADDS) web siteisde-
way to review aviation related weather
data.TheInternetaddressis http://
adds.awc-kc.noaa.gov.One example of
useful information is the METAR reports.
Not only can they be reviewed in plain
English but, historical data for up to the
last 24 hours can be reviewed.
Gleim Publications,Inc.,Gainesville,
Florida, recently added balloon, glider,
andhelicopterFAAPilotKnowledge
Questionstoitswebsite. Gleim’snewon-
lineFAA Non-Airplane Questions and
Answers Serviceallowspilots andin-
structors to study the non-airplane ques-
tions at their leisure for free. The non-
airplanequestions and answers are di-
vided into their respective categories for
Private Pilot through ATP and Flight En-
gineer.Gleimiscurrentlylooking for
experts in ballooning to assist themin
developing explanations for the FAA’s
balloon relatedquestions andanswers.
ContactBobLeeat800-874-5346or
email: bob@gleim.comformore infor-
mation.
Tina Reeves, Balloon Federation of
America Director and Chair of the Junior
Balloonist program, has announced that
thefollowingJuniorBalloonists have
earned a free subscription toBalloon Life
for their outstanding academic achieve-
ment during the previous school year.
Marshall Herbst,Lexington,Ken-
tucky; Ryan Deloss, Portland,Oregon;
Graham Hack from Regina,Canada;Crys-
talNollen, Hartland,Wisconsin;Matthew
Witte,Superior,Colorado;Abdullah
Katoot, Roswell, Georgia; Chelsea Gar-
ner,MountainHome,Idaho;Rebecca
Byberg, S. Woodstock, Connecticut.
These Junior Balloonists brought their
grade point average up over the last year
or achieved straight A’s.
The Fédération Aéronautic Interna-
tionale has ratified world records for Bill
tioncategory. OnJanuary 30Bussey flew
fromOkemah,OklahomatoBullard,
Texas staying aloft for 21 hours and 13
minutes. He surpassed Masakazu Oiwa’s
record of 15 hours and 22 minutes.
On February 12 Kolba made a flight
fromJamestown,NorthDakotato
Baudette, Minnesota staying airborne for
21 hours and 55 minutes. SeeBalloon
Life, April 2000,Flight to the Border.
Under the National Aeronautic As-
sociationrules Kolbaheldthesanctionfor
the record attempt which could have pre-
vented anyoneelse fromtrying during
this timeperiod. In truesportsmanship
Kolba graciously allowed Bussey the op-
portunity to make an attempt. Bussey es-
tablishedatoughrecordtobeat,butKolba,
inhis experimental balloon, was up tothe
challenge.Kolbanowholds theAX-6
duration record.
The FAI has announced that Kevin
Uliassi’sclaimforaRoziere,AM-12
mixedballoons,distance recordof 20,455
kilometershasbeencanceled.Current
record is held by Steve Fossett of 16,673
kilometers. The FAI said that the distance
record is not being claimed.
Results of the12th European Hot Air
Balloon Championship held August3-13
in Chateau deMeysembourg, Luxemburg
wereannounced.Thetopthreeplaces
werewonbyDavidBareford,United
Kingdom, FrançoisMessines, France,and
Josef Scherzer, Austria. The full results
canbefound onthe Internet at http://
events.fai.org/ballooning/euro2000/
AttheCentralia(IL)BalloonfestScott
(Frenchy)LaFrance wasawardthe “High
Fly Award.” This award is given to the
person who is a true ambassador of the
sport of ballooning. The trophy was initi-
ated from the caring communityspirit of
the late Wes Rinker, and named after his
baseball balloon,High Fly. It recognizes
