Gordon Bennett 2010 Gas Balloon Race Gains Altitude And Distance

September 30, 2010 - On Saturday at dust 20 teams and 20 balloons consisting of two pilots (pilot and co-pilot) and a retrieve crew, from 12 countries began the 54th International Gordon Bennett 2010 gas balloon race at near Bristol, England. The Gordon Bennett Cup is the world's oldest and most respected gas balloon race.

The Balloonist winner in the Gordon Bennett Cup will fly the furthest distance in a gas balloon on one filled tank of hydrogen. The distance is measured from point of takeoff to the point of landing. As the hydrogen in the balloon begins to deplete sand is thrown overboard to maintain altitude. 

The distance will be measured in a straight line around the earth's surface. The flights will be limited to the number of countries over which the balloonist may fly over or land. Entering such airspace will be a disqualifier. Pilots many not enter Italian airspace during the night this includes the island of Sardinia.

In the Western Pyrenees, the average elevation gradually increases from the west to the east, from the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean. In the Eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern extremity of the Pyr?n?es ari?geoises, the mean elevation is remarkably uniform until a sudden decline occurs in the easternmost portion of the chain known as the Alb?res. The highest point is 11,168 ft above sea level. Japanese team official distance is 838.758km. 

By night fall on Sunday, with 19 balloons in-flight the French team of Sebastien Rolland with co-pilot Vincent Leys in aerostat F-PPSE took the lead having crossed crossed the Pyrenees. There are a number of balloons off the French coast west of Bordeaux traveling at ground speeds between 10-15kts. Just before midnight Finland's Olli Luoma with co-pilot Markku Sipinen in aerostat OH-OCO landed in a large corn field after a 23 hour flight. Their distance is over 800 KMS.

On Monday around 10 AM GMT the American team landed around Manlleu which is a is a town in the comarca of Osona, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, northern Spain. The Austrian team landed about 1 PM GMT, Gerald St?rzlinger with co-pilot Nikolaus Binder in aerostat D-ORZL landed in France after a flight of approx 38 hours and a distance of almost 1000km. By 2 PM GMT 10 balloons had landed, 8 still flying and maybe 2 landed and yet to report in.

On Wednesday, around 8 AM the Italian coast guard received a call  from the U.S. team, Richard Abruzzo with co-pilot Carol Rymer Davis in aerostat N-801NM. The balloonist reported to the coast guard that they were having problems. The coast guard then lost radio contact. The U.S. team is reported to be missing over the Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Croatia. The Italian ATC and coast guard have been informed. Weather conditions in the area are poor with thunderstorms and rough seas. Search operations by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre continue. As of midnight local time there were three balloons in the air.

On Thursday, as of 8 AM local time the balloon flying in the Gordon Bennett race designated USA2, registration N801NM is still missing. The pilots are American citizens, Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davis.At 05.58Z Gordon Bennett Control Centre 29th September) received the last signal from the tracker device, which normally gives us the balloon position every 15 minutes. At that time they were contacted by Brindisi Air Traffic Control who had lost contact with the balloon. Mr. Luc Trullemans, meteorologist, had a conversation with one of the pilots at 06.05Z. No contact has been established since.

The balloon is equipped with satellite telephone, VHF radios, radar transponder and two mobile telephones. It has not been possible to make contact on any of these. Thunderstorms were present in the area. A search and rescue operation continue to search for the missing Americans. Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) are using several aircraft and a fast patrol boat in their search efforts. The Croatian authorities and all shipping in the area have also been notified.

Nothing has been found so far and no signal has been detected from the Emergency Location Transmitter, which should activate on contact with water. The balloon is equipped with survival suits, lifejackets and two single-person life rafts. Nineteen other balloons were flying in the event and it has been confirmation that all of these have landed safely and all other pilots are safe and well. (See Search Continues For Gordon Bennett 2010 U.S. Balloonist Team)

It was first run on September 30, 1906 in Paris, France. The event was sponsored by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald newspaper. Inaugurated at a time when powered air flight was in its infancy, Bennett wanted to encourage the technical development in this field and in 1906 created a special competition open to powered flying machines. 

The winner of the first ballooning event was American, Frank Purdy Lahm who, along with his balloon co-pilot Henry Hersey flew just over 400 miles to the northeast coast of England. In 1907, St. Louis, Missouri was host to the first ever Gordon Bennett Cup race to be held in the United States. In 1908, the Swiss winners set a world duration record of 73 hours aloft, a standard that would not be broken until 1995. In 1910, the winning balloon flew 1,887 kilometres from St. Louis, to northern Quebec in Canada. It took the two pilots, Alan Ramsay Hawley and Augustus Post, a week to walk back to civilization.

After being interrupted by World War I, the race was held every year until the outbreak of the Second World War. It was not revived until 1983 when the International Aeronautical Federation reinstated the popular race with the winning country usually hosting the following year's competition.

On September 12, 1995, three gas balloons participating in the race entered Belarusian air space. Despite the fact that race organizers informed the Belarusian Government about the race in May and that flight plans had been filed, the Belarusian air force shot down one balloon, killing two American citizens. Among the other two balloons, one was forced to land while the third balloon landed safely (because of deteriorating weather) over two hours after the downing. The crews of the two balloons were fined for entering Belarus without a visa and released. Belarus to date has not apologized or offered compensation for these killings.

Country Teams In Alphabetical Order

Austria Gerald St?rzlinger with co-pilot Nikolaus Binder in aerostat D-ORZL Belgium Gino Ciers with co-pilot J?rgen Dobbelaere in aerostat D-OCOX Czech Republic Jan Smrcka with co-pilot Zuzka Smrckova in aerostat OK-0001     Finland Ben Mattsson with co-pilot Peter Lindholm in aerostat OH-ENI   Olli Luoma with co-pilot Markku Sipinen in aerostat OH-OCO     France Benoit Pelard with co-pilot Beno?t P?terl? in aerostat F-PALL   Sebastien Rolland with co-pilot Vincent Leys in aerostat F-PPSE     Germany  Josef H?hl with co-pilot Georg Sellmaier in aerostat D-OWBI   Matthias Zenge with co-pilot Markus Pieper in aerostat D-OWBA   Wilhelm Eimers with co-pilot Ullrich Seel in aerostat D-OEIM     Japan  Saburo Ichiyoshi with co-pilot Akio Hachinohe in aerostat JA-A1044 Netherlands  Rien Jurg with co-pilot Ron van Houten in aerostat PH-KTS Russia  Leonid Tyukhtyaev with co-pilot Stanislaw Fuodoroff in aerostat RA-0454G     Switzerland  Kurt Frieden with co-pilot Pascal Witpraechtiger in aerostat HB-QKF   Max Krebs with co-pilot Walter Gschwendtner in aerostat HB-QHP     United Kingdom  Colin Butter with co-pilot Paul Spellward in aerostat D-OCFT   David Hempleman-Adams with co-pilot Simon Carey in aerostat G-CGOZ   Janet Folkes with co-pilot Ann Rich in aerostat D-OWNT     USA  John Michael Wallace with co-pilot Kevin Brielmann in aerostat D-OWML   Mark Sullivan with co-pilot Cheri White in aerostat N-707GH   Richard Abruzzo with co-pilot Carol Rymer Davis in aerostat N-801NM