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By Mike Mitchell |
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December 7, 2010 - The Gordon Bennett 2010 balloon air
race suffered a tremendous lost when the U.S. hot-air
balloonists team USA2, Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davis
balloon went down over the Adriatic Sea on September 29,
The bodies of Abruzzo and Rymer-Davis were located on
Monday after they and their balloon were caught up in a
commercial fishing net off the coast of Puglia, Italian.
On
September 29, 2010, at 0558 coordinated universal time,
a Ballonbau Worner hydrogen-filled balloon, N801NM,
operated by Peak Express Balloon as an entry in the
Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett 2010 International Gas
Balloon Race, was lost from Italian air traffic control
(ATC) radar over international waters of the |
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The
balloon was presumed destroyed, and the certificated commercial
pilot and commercial-rated copilot were presumed killed. A range
of meteorological conditions prevailed over the 4 days of the
flight that originated at
According
to the Italian Agenzia Nazionale Per La Scurezza del Volo
(ANSV), the last radio contact between the According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the balloon was manufactured in 2001, and issued a standard airworthiness certificate on June 6, 2005. Original maintenance records for the balloon were not immediately available; however a copy of the balloon's most recent annual inspection record revealed the inspection was completed July 28, 2010, at 195 total aircraft hours. The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with a rating for lighter-than-air-balloon. His most recent FAA third class medical certificate was issued July 9, 2009. The pilot reported 1,850 total hours of flight experience on that date. On his entry application prior to the race, the pilot declared 2,087 total hours of flight experience, 1,450 hours of which were in gas-filled balloons. |