A Great Disappointment in Paris

by Joyce and Mike Bundgaard

We arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport on the blustery, but dry, morning of Wednesday, September 9. We are in France to observe for the 42nd Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett scheduled to launch Saturday night, September 12 from Jardin des Tuileries. We arrived a few days early to settle into the Paris apartment we rented for a month. As our sixth time as observers for a Gordon Bennett gas balloon race, we were quite familiar with the many possible unanticipated adventures associated with the event. So having our own place in Paris seemed like a great contingency plan. That way if one of us returned from the chase earlier than the other, there was a place to call home. Despite the disappointment of the balloon event, we had a wonderful stay in Paris. Naturally, as soon as the balloonists went home, the weather in Paris was beautiful, warm and dry with no wind.

Twenty-one teams from ten countries arrived at the Aero Club de France on Friday morning, September 11 to check in for this prestigious event. The excitement of being in the very big but unbelievable beautiful city of Paris was tempered with traffic congestion and lack of parking spaces. Due to those difficulties, the scheduled 11:00 a.m. briefing was postponed until 1:00 p.m. so all pilots would be able to attend.

The U.S. teams of Lesley Pritchard/Tom Davies, David Levin/Mark Sullivan, Richard Abruzzo/Troy Bradley, as well as all competitors and officials from throughout the world, were excited and anxious about the anticipated spectacular launches from the heart of Paris. But unfortunately, rumors abounded about terrible weather approaching for the launch window which was limited to Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday. It was already windy on Friday morning, and rain was forecast for Friday night and into late Saturday.

With the weather situation looking so bad, and a very small launch window for the Paris site, it made for a rather unique situation. Even though the Aero-Club de France paid the Paris Minister of Culture $30,000 to use the Tuileries Gardens for launch, the agreement would not allow a launch on Sunday night or into Monday. As the hours wore on, pilot's were loosing much of their enthusiasm for the possibility of flying this event. Mother Nature just was not going to cooperate. Event Director, Austrian Helmut Kocar, commented several times at the briefings that he had never seen such terrible weather charts. They were a rarity, the forecast really couldn't have been worse, and there was no indication it would change for the better.

The briefings, roll calls, distribution of paperwork with open and closed countries for flight, airport guidelines for flights out of Paris all continued in hopes of a break in the clouds. At the 4:00 p.m. briefing on Saturday, September 12 at the launch site it was raining very hard, and the tent was filled with pilots, crews and officials with very dampened spirits. The launch window from Paris for Saturday night and into Sunday morning was slowing closing.

Sadly, the launch window slammed shut and the next briefing was at the back up launch site, Aerodrome de Champ Cadet Chateau Thierry, a small airport 80 kilometers east-northeast or Paris. The weather still wasn't looking very promising, but the helium trucks, balloons, sand for ballast, everything was moved to this back up launch site. The 2:00 p.m. briefing on Monday, September 14 started with Helmut passing out the weather charts to the pilots. He advised them to look for themselves and it was obvious that there was absolutely no way a Gordon Bennett could take place. Helmut went on to say that he did not want to become "famous" for launching balloons in the very unstable weather. The briefing was closed with the Event Director thanking the pilots for their understanding of the very difficult decision he had to make and presented them with medals commissioned for the event.

Pending FAI approval, the Gordon Bennett event may return to France in 1999, but most likely will not launch from Paris. It was a great disappointment for all involved but hopefully everyone was able to imagine just how spectacular it could have been.