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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0139.PDF
129 FLIGHT International, 17 January 1981 AS MENTIONED in Flight last week, transatlantic balloonist Max Anderson is planning a round-the-world balloon flight. Anderson, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, plans to launch from Egypt, possibly later this month. A British team, headed by balloon designer-pilot Don Cameron, is also working towards a round-the-world flight, intending to launch from Hong Kong by April (See Private Flight for June 28, 1980). A transpacific flight is planned by Ben Abruzzo, one of Anderson's co-pilots in the first successful transatlantic bal loon crossing in August 1978. Anderson, 46, will attempt the global tour in an unpressurised gon dola slung beneath a polyethylene bal loon containing about 200,000ft3 of helium. His single co-pilot will be Don Ida, 47, of Denver, Colorado. The pair plan to launch their craft, Jules Verne, from the Al Fayyum area, about 60 miles south of Cairo and just west of the river Nile, on a route that will take them south of strife-torn Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The ideal flight- path will take them across the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Burma and possibly China before reaching the Pacific south of Japan. The balloon may then float north easterly, possibly as far as Alaska, be fore moving across Canada and into the USA. The round-the-world feat would be considered accomplished if and when the craft crosses the longi tude of Al Fayyum. The Jules Verne is expected to climb to 15,000ft immediately after launch, meaning that the crew will be wearing oxygen masks for the entire flight. It could ease into the Jetstream at 25-30,000ft, hopefully picking up ground speeds of up to 150kt. A pos sible flight time of ten days has been mentioned. Anderson set a new bal looning distance record in the Kitty Hawk, a similar balloon, last May, when he and his son Kris, 23, covered 3,314 miles in a successful bid to be the first balloonists to traverse the North American continent nonstop. He, Abruzzo, and Larry Newman also held the previous distance record, set in August 1978, when they made the first Atlantic balloon crossing in Double Eagle II (Flight, August 26, 1978). The Jules Verne's gas envelope will be made from two plies of 10mm poly ethylene film, and will measure about 110ft (diameter) by 80ft (height) when inflated. Below it, 110ft of rig ging—consisting mainly of a large emergency cargo parachute—will ex tend to the gondola. This will measure 14ft X 10ft with a roof sloping to a maximum height of about 8ft. Its con struction is primarily a lightweight tubular steel frame covered with aluminium honeycomb foil. It is heavily insulated (external tempera tures as low as minus 60°F are ex pected), and is designed to be buoyant and self-righting in the event of a sea splashdown. Communications equipment will probably include two VHF trans ceivers, a VOR, two transponders, an amateur band transceiver, a hand-held emergency VHF transceiver, emer gency locator beacons, and a special transmitter that will interact with Tiros satellites to provide continuous position reports. The entire system, including pilots and about 5,0001b of liquid ballast, will weigh between 10,5001b and 11,5001b at launch. The ballasting sys tem, tested on the Kitty Hawk flight, consists of four large tanks containing antifreeze and water. The mixture will be pumped overboard as the flight progresses, offsetting the venting of helium as the gas expands from solar heating. Anderson's project is meeting with some sceptical reactions about the likelihood of its success, mainly be cause of the envelope's relatively small size and the planned altitude. It is expected to meet turbulence, result ing in some inevitable gas loss, and will be "in" rather than "above" the weather for some of the time. Should a landing be made en route, the en velope is liable to be damaged, and there will be the complication of find ing a local source of helium before launching again. The British crew, in the mainly ICI- sponsored gas/hot-air balloon Innova tion, plan to fly between 30-40,000ft in a four-man pressurised gondola. Built at Cranfield's College of Aero nautics, the gondola is due for com pletion by Mid-February. Even at its higher altitude, the British team is prepared to take up to three weeks for the flight, and reckons that the weather below 30,000ft is likely to force less sophisticated balloons down. Ben Abruzzo's project is being taken very seriously by other balloonists. His balloon, named Double Eagle V, is larger than Anderson's with a pressurised sleeping compartment in side the gondola. He and his three co pilots have been tight-lipped about their plans, and some observers think he too may be planning a global, rather than transpacific, attempt from Japan in the very near future, possibly as early as February 15. Satellite transmitting antenr Ballast gauges and cent Ballast releas* Very similar to the Jules Verne, Max Anderson's balloon Kitty Hawk (top left) is seen here over the High Sierras on its 1980 transcontinental flight. The cutaway (left) shows the Jules Verne's gondola
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