Gary and
Serena
cica 1993
www.balloonlife.
com
those cuttrees werestrewnabout the
entire area, stumps, limbs andother debris
coveringan area aboutfiveacres, remind-
ing me of the landings often repeated by
typicalstudentpilotsattemptingsolo
flights and creating difficult retrievals in
our general area.
As I was approaching him stillfrom
a distance, I justhad toask him if he knew
the way to “Murphy’s Mule Barn” a well
known local eatery off Alemeida inAlbu-
querque. He seemed confused like ‘who
isthe stranger? Could he be a fellowlocal
ABQ straggler?’ He soon realized a fa-
miliar face from home and I hope he then
was glad to know he wasnot alone for his
arrival.
My fellow foot chaserTonysoon
reached us. Realizing that we were never
to be found, he set back out to find a way
for the others to reach the now famous
landing spot. While we were left to fend
for ourselves, Richard dutifullycalledthe
various FAA area folks to report his ter-
minatingof theflight.Callinganumberof
others includinghiscrew, he continued to
secure hisequipmentmaking sure allwas
completed and recorded. After about 2
hours, the rescue vehicle anda handfulof
willing volunteers arrived at the scene.
You really could use a Humvee for this
retrieval!Fullyloaded, we began ourjour-
ney back to the remainder of the crews
anxiously awaiting with champagne and
warm embraces, Followingthe manycon-
gratulations we took off for civilization
and a warm meal with a cold beer or two
back in Augusta. The NBC affiliate was
looking forward totapingforthelate
news and the Augusta Chronicle wanted
to complete their story for the morning
paper.
After much pomp and pageantry, a
satisfying steak dinner and some relax-
ation, Richard and hiscrew leftfor a night
of rest at another friend’s house close to
Atlanta. It was absolutely amazing how
graciousandcomposedRichard remained
all through this exhausting experience.
His true dedication to his calling [bal-
loons]isamazing. It made us proud to be
a part of it but even more importantly to
get to know a little better a great guy and
a super ambassador to our sport. Thanks
Richard for amostmemorableexperience
and ya’ll come backagain and set awhile!
Richard Ret, Augusta, Georgia
Richard Abruzzo’s flight was made
in a homebuilt AA-06 (gas balloon, size
1200 to 1600 cubic meters). He launched
from Albuquerque, New Mexico and
landed 80 hours and 21 minutes later
near Augusta, Georgia. The flight dura-
tion exceeded the current world record,
set by his father Ben Abruzzo in 1980, of
75 hours and 10 minutes. Editor
SavannahSix
Andy Caytonof Pembroke, Georgia,
who earlier in the year broke the AX-6
endurance record, set out to try and break
BillBussey’sAX-6distancerecord.
Caytonand histeam,Savannah Six, went
toMinnesota to make the attempt in early
March.
The balloon was fueled withthe 175
gallonsofpropane neededforthe distance
recordattempt.Meteorologist,Bruce
Telfeyan predicted winds at launch time
to be from 340 degrees at 12 to 14 knots
withscattered clouds toclear skies and 27
degrees (F)temperature.
Andy’s planned flight profile called
foralaunchat 2p.m.localtimeand
immediately climbto 6,500 feetMSL
(mean sea level)where he was scheduled
tofly for approximately four hours. Then
ascend to the 10,000 foot (MSL) flight
level and fly for another 12 hours which
should takehimto alandingat about
sunrise in southeast Alabama orsouth-
western Georgia.Recoverycrewwere
staged inGeorgiato recover Andy and his
equipment since the launch crew would
not be able to keep up with himat his
expected speeds of 80 to 100 mph.
The distance recordattempt has been
called off for this season. According to
Andy,aproblemdevelopedwiththe
balloon’s fuelsystem justbefore take-off
which caused a fire on board the balloon.
Luckily, no one was seriously injured in
the ensuing flames.
The only injury was to Andy, who
suffered a burn on his wrist and a minor
burn to his forehead. The balloon enve-
lope, however, was badly burned with a
great dealoftheenvelopebeingcon-
sumed by fire.
Formore informationonAndy’sbal-
loon andhis recordattempts,visit the
SavannahSixwebsiteat:
www.savannahsix.com
Preflight continued on page 8
AustralianBalloonAccident
Ahotair balloonsustainedaninflight
fireoverCanberra,Australiainearly
March. The fire started inthe basketwhile
the balloon was still aloft. The pilot, 50,
managed to land and he and two passen-
gers, a girl, 15, and man, 45, escaped with
minor burns in a suburban park.
As soon as they had jumped free, the
balloon, stillon fire, shotback up into the
sky where an aluminum propane exploded
moments later.
Theballoonsparkedwidespread
alarm and jammed emergency lines as,
propelled by the wind, itflew high across
Canberra’snorthern suburbs, flames spew-
ing from the basket. Debris, including a
propane cylinder broke free of the basket
and fell.
Allthreeoccupants escapedwith
minor burns. No one of the ground was
hurt. It is believed the incident may have
been triggered by a gas leak.
An eyewitness to part of this acci-
dent, who was flying about 500 meters
away from the balloon which caught fire,
reported seeing the balloon on fire and
about 50 feet AGL and climbing. “It was
unnerving for all the pilots (about 40),
who saw it happen as very few were aware
the crew had left the balloon at ground
level as the fire started,” reportedPhil
Kavanagh.“There has been no official
statement made as yet, however, it seems
there was a major fuel leak either during
ground contact or possibly even before
landing. If the latter is the case, it must
have been very close to the ground, ast he
ensuing fire was very large and out of
control, and it looked to me that anyone in
the basket during a fire as big as this could
not have survived more than a few sec-
onds.”
KittingerHonored
The 97th annual Explorers ClubAn-
nualDinner(ECAD)attheWaldorf-
Astoria, New York, March 24, honored,
amongothers, Col. Joe Kittinger who was
presented with the prestigious Explorers
Medal. Kittinger,the first person to fly
soloacross the Atlantic Ocean by balloon
(1984),and stillholder of the world para-
chute jump record (102,800 feet set in
1960).
SirArthurC.Clarke,authorof“2001:
A SpaceOdyssey,” addressed the esti-
mated 1,500 dinner guests live via satel-
lite from his home in Sri Lanka. George
Plimptonserved asmaster of ceremonies.
The “Great Explorations of the 20th
Century” dinner included an endearing
Explorers Club tradition eagerly awaited
by members: the offering of exotic hors
d’oeuvresthat this yearincluded non-
endangeredalligators,grasshoppers, fried
tarantulas,sautéedscorpions,and,inkeep-
ingwiththeunderwater explorationtheme,
side orders of kelp.
TheExplorersClubisa
multidisciplinary,professionalsociety
dedicatedto theadvancementoffield
research, scientific exploration, and the
ideal that itisvital to preserve the instinct
toexplore. Establishedin1904 bya group
of celebrated explorers including Admi-
ral Robert E. Peary, it has 3,000 members
worldwide and it is headquartered at 46
east 70th Street, New York, NY 10021.
Tel. 212 628-8383. More information is
available at www.explorers.org.
JoiningHarry Season asofficers are Vice
PresidentRodneyA. May, TreasurerMark
SullivanandSec retaryRicha rd
Butterfield.LikeMr.Season theother
officers were also re-elected to serve an-
other term.
The other 2001 Directors are: Rich-
ard Abruzzo, Raymond E. Bair, Sid Cut-
ter, Gary D. Bennett, RonCaldwell, John
C. Davis, George Hahn , Bruce W. Hale,
JacquelineHockey, Dr. SteveKomadina,
TomS.McConnell,M.D.,FrankA.
Mezzancello,RobertO.Moore,Anna
Nalley, John R. Sena, Jim Shiver, Art J.
Swenka, Al Tetreault, and BillWalker.
SidCutter and George Hahn are new
tothe board in 2001. Former board mem-
bers Steven M. ShopePhD., JudyE. Rob-
erts and Neida L. Courtneydid notrun for
re-election.
TheKodakAlbuquerqueInterna-
tionalBalloonFiesta isballooning’s larg-
est and most spectacular event, attracting
hundredsof thousandsspectatorvisits.
The2001event,setforOctober6ththrough
October 14th, willfeature more than 750
hotairand gas balloonsflyingover Albu-
querque.
