New World Record: 82 Balloons Take Flight to Cross English Channel
Balloons took to the skies in record numbers on Friday, April 7, as 82 hot air balloons launched from Lydden Hill Race Circuit at 7 a.m., and traveled over the famous White Cliffs of Dover to Calais, France, etching a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The event was organized by Exclusive Ballooning […]
Balloon Fleet for Channel Crossing on “GREEN” for April 7th
“Green” for Friday morning, April 7th. About hundred hot air balloon pilots are getting ready for a mass crossing of the English Channel this Friday, April 7th, if the weather cooperates.Datum RPO, who are backing the project and will lead the fleet, have updated the status from “Amber Alert” to Organized by leading aerial marketing […]
Exhibition Portrays Birth-of-Flight Era
“Clouds in a Bag” on View at the National Air and Space Museum’sSteven Udvar-Hazy Center In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Sophie Blanchard, became a celebrated balloonist and aeronautical entertainer drawing huge crowds to her balloon-based stunts. As fearless and ambitious as her husband, the famous French ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard, she rode […]
Weather Not Favorable for March17th Launch; Balloon Fleet on “Standby” Again!
Organizers of “The Datum RPO World Record Cross Channel Flight,” which has one hundred balloon pilots taking part to cross the English Channel, have postponed the launch that was scheduled for Friday, March 17th. Surface wind speeds that could go as high as 19 knots at launch time would not be conducive to a take-off […]
Balloon Fleet for English Channel Crossing on Amber Alert
About hundred hot air balloon pilots are getting ready for a mass crossing of the English Channel this Friday, if the weather cooperates. Datum RPO, who are backing the project and will lead the fleet, have updated the status from “standby” (since March 5th) to an “Amber Alert” for Friday morning, March 17th. The 100-strong […]
Konyukhov Plans for High-Altitude Record Attempt
Russian explorer and balloonist Fedor Konyukhov who set a new world record flying solo around the world, last July, is preparing for another adventure — a hot air balloon ascension to the stratosphere. High-Altitude Envelope Courtesy of Cameron Balloons Cameron Balloons, manufacturer of the three balloons used by aeronauts for their successful round-the-world flight, including […]
A Recreational Flight to Space in a Modern Balloon?
Ready for the thrill and challenge of a journey to the edge of space? All you need is $75,000 to reserve a seat and a mindset to float up to 100,000 feet under a balloon and enjoy the spectacular views. Among other magnificent panoramas, these vistas include the blackness of space, the starscape above, the […]
Balloon Museum Celebrates High-Flying Pioneers
Model of the first flyers’ (animals) aircraft at AAAIBM. (Credit: Balloon Journal) Who were the first test pilots in aviation? A sheep, a duck, and a rooster. On September 19, 1783, the animals took off in a balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers. The aircraft floated to 1,700 feet and, after an eight-minute journey, landed […]
Pilot of Deadliest Balloon Crash in US History Knew About Bad Weather; Eight Prescription Drugs Found in System
Washington, DC – The pilot of the hot air balloon that crashed in Lockhart, Texas, on July 30, had taken several prescription drugs that would slow reflexes and impair judgment, said experts who testified at the National Transportation Safety Board hearing on Friday, December 9. At the investigative hearing, officials examined the circumstances of the […]
Gas Balloon Races Test Skills, Endurance, and Luck
Noah Forden, an aerospace engineer by profession, built his two-seater airplane in his garage and also built his third hot air balloon. He has been flying planes for 17 years and hot-air balloons for 26 years. Last October, Forden, flew to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (AIBF) in his two-seater airplane and carried his cloud […]
