"What, you've never seen a cold-air balloon
before?"Aerostar International, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, announced that Bill Cloninger, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is the new distributor for the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania. Bill purchased the territory from Dave Smith.
Bill operates several balloon companies involved in commercial ballooning and organizes an annual "balloon camp" trip to Carson Valley, California where student pilots can complete their training in a focused, intense one week or two week long format.
Cloninger can be contacted at LTA Aviation, 7780 Bainbridge Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44203, phone 440-543-7139.
In related news, Celebration Aviation based in Tampa, Florida has purchased the Aerostar distributorship for the southeast United States from Colvin Rouse, former owner of Sport Balloons. The owners of Celebration Aviation are David Justice, Bob Carlton, and Carol Weiner. The territory includes the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
Celebration Aviation can be contacted at 5930 Corporate Place C, Tampa, FL 33634, phone 813-884-5610.
The Balloon Works, Statesville, North Carolina, will host the annual Seminar for Continuing Airworthiness February 5 and 6. Certified Repairmen, trainees, FAA and NTSB inspectors are invited to attend.
There is no charge for this seminar. The seminar covers the acceptable damage and the repair of envelopes, baskets, burners, and fuel systems and the applicable FAR's and required documentation. This is a hands-on seminar that includes patching and replacement of fabric, burner tear downs, relashing ropes and reweaving baskets among other topics.
The seminar is limited to 25 repairmen and 25 FAA and NTSB inspectors. If you would like to attend or need more information, call Patty at 704-878-9501, FAX 704-878-9505, or e-mail: FireFlyBln@aol.com.
During the annual Red Rock Balloon Rally near Gallup, New Mexico a woman's hand became tangled in a rope from a balloon basket as it suddenly lifted into the air. Susan Milner, 44, of Rio Rancho fell from a height of 40 to 50 feet suffering multiple fractures and later died at Rehoboth-McKinley Christian Hospital in Gallup.
The balloon had reportedly completed its flight and was offering tether rides prior to deflation and packup. An apparent loss of weight from exiting passengers caused the ascension. The victim apparently tried to assist but became tangled.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and will determine the probable cause of the accident.
Virgin Global Challenger: "I could see [Virgin Global Challenger envelope] out of my hotel window rising very quickly and I realized that somehow or other I should have been with it, so something had gone horribly wrong," said Richard Branson to the press on December 9.
The Virgin team found a weather pattern they liked and began the long inflation process with a planned launch late on the afternoon of December 9 from Marrakech, Morocco. During the time period when the gondola was being positioned under the partially inflated envelope a gust of wind reportedly placed enough stress on the upwind flying wire to cause it to break. The remaining cables broke in succession and away the envelope flew.
The team hoped that it would quickly invert and fall to the ground. The envelope remained upright and continued to climb above fifty-thousand feet. Reportedly the team's Lear Jet chase plane eventually made close passes over the top of the envelope creating enough turbulence to cause the envelope to invert and spill gas. The envelope descended to a landing in the Atlas mountains just inside Algeria.
The damaged envelope was recovered and airlifted back to England where a determination will be made on whether to repair it or build a new one.
Branson and Per Lindstrand, pilot and builder, hope to be ready to make another attempt later this winter. Branson has made a public commitment to be back in the saddle this year or next.
Solo Spirit: Steve Fossett's team were code yellow for a possible launch on December 7 but changing weather cancelled those plans.
His team has announced that scientists at NASA and Washington University plan to use the upcoming flight to test an instrument package that may one day ply the atmosphere of Mars and Venus.
The experiment will help NASA learn how to fly balloons on other planets, according to Raymond Arvidson, chair of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University. "It is a unique chance to fly a science payload around the Earth and develop lessons learned to ensure a successful Mars aerobot mission," said Arvidson.
"Aerobot" is the term scientists use to describe the remote-controlled balloon that will fly missions around the atmosphere of other planets, measuring properties of the atmosphere and surface. The scientific payload will be mounted on the balloon's gondola. The experiment will simulate a Mars or Venus mission.
U.S. scientists want to fly a balloon in the atmosphere of Mars early in the next century. An aerobot flying above Mars or Venus will have to do many of the same things as the Solo Spirit, including varying its altitude to steer through the atmosphere.
The prototype aerobot instruments will measure the position of the balloon. Data from the prototype will be posted on the World Wide Web during the flight at http://www.wustl.edu/solo.
Breitling Orbiter: The Swiss/Belgian/British team is awaiting favorable weather at their Chateau d'Oex command center. Ground coordinator Alan Noble reports that the gondola made a visit to a French government jet engine test facility near Paris. The gondola was loaded into a chamberwith the three crew on boardand simulated an altitude of 35,000 feet and minus 55 degrees Celsius. Under these conditions burner and decompression/recompression tests were conducted during an eight hour period.
Noble reports that the test was almost a complete success, the only problem being an o-ring with a slight weep and an incorrectly set pressure relief valve.
J. Renee: Kevin Uliassi's team has spent much of December preparing the equipment. Uliassi plans on launching from the Nimtz Quarry in Loves Park, Illinois, just east of Rockford and northwest of Chicago.
Uliassi has gained a new sponsor. PageNet, Dallas, Texas, has become a lead corporate sponsor. "We are thrilled to have PageNet on board as the lead corporate sponsor of the J. Renee," said Uliassi. "PageNet's ongoing support on the ground and their financial assistance of the overall effort is critical to making this endeavor successful."
In addition to its financial commitment, PageNet has provided the ground crew with wireless communications equipment and service to assist them in coordinating the mission.
During his journey, Uliassi hopes to contribute to meteorologists' knowledge of global weather patternsincluding theories concerning El Niñoand to physiologists' understanding of the effects of high altitude on the human body.
Dymocks Flyer: According to press reports an unnamed sponsor has withdrawn its support from Bob Martin's Dymocks Flyer project. He had hoped to launch from Alice Springs, Australia this winter in a high altitude attempt to fly a balloon around the world. The withdrawal of the sponsor has grounded the Dymocks team.
"What, you've never seen a cold-air balloon
before?"
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