Albuquerque, NM – Two pilots soaring over the Pacific Ocean made history Thursday, traveling farther than the 5,209-mile (8,383-kilometer) official world distance record for human flight in a gas balloon. But according to the rules of international aviation, they didn’t set a new record quite yet.
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“There it is! There it is!” shouted team members at the flight’s mission control in Albuquerque as a monitor showed the helium-filled Two Eagles balloon passing the record set by the Double Eagle V in 1981.
The Two Eagles pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, are aiming to set both distance and duration records with their flight from Saga, Japan, which began shortly before 6:30 a.m. Sunday Japan time, and was nearing North America on Thursday.
To do it, they need to exceed the current records by 1 percent, as confirmed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. For distance, that means they need to travel about 5,260 miles (8,465 kilometers).
They also hope to beat the duration record, set in 1978 when Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman made the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight.
That record of 137 hours, 5 minutes and 50 seconds in the air in a traditional gas balloon is considered the “holy grail” of ballooning achievements. And to beat that, the Two Eagles team must remain aloft for about 138 hours and 45 minutes.
The pilots had been aiming for Canada until a high-pressure ridge formed off the U.S. West Coast, forcing a sweeping right turn toward Mexico, where they now plan to land on Saturday.
“Think of it as hitting a wall: It will have to go left or right,” a mission control statement said.
The northerly course would have taken them over the Canadian Rockies to somewhere in the northern U.S., possibly Montana or North Dakota. Instead, they’re headed south, aiming for the peninsula of Baja California.
The balloon is outfitted with an array of monitors and other instruments that are tracking its course and compiling data to be submitted to the record-keepers. With a massive, helium-filled envelope and a specially-designed carbon fiber-composite capsule, it is designed to stay aloft for up to 10 days.
Their last task will be a safe landing. With no certainty about their destination, the team set up a network of balloonists across the U.S. and southern Canada to serve as chase crews, able to travel as much as 200 miles (322 kilometers) to tether the capsule and round up the balloon’s envelope as it deflates.
But not even the pilots know where they will land. It depends on the winds encountered along the way. And if those winds blow them beyond the Baja peninsula to somewhere else in Mexico, it wasn’t immediately clear if they’ll be able to land in a place where a ground team can help them.
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Online:
http://pacificballoon.com/tracking/index.php
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