Long Distance Ballooning
Distance has always been a goal of balloonists. From the first fatal attempt to cross the English Channel to the circumnavigation of the earth there have been many epic voyages. One of these, for example, was the flight of Charles Green and Monck Mason on the Great Balloon of Nassau in November of 1836. Taking off from London they traveled 480 miles in 18 hours to land in the Duchy of Nassau. The Gordon Bennett absolute balloon races were the de facto world championship of ballooning events until the end of the twentieth century. Achieving distance calls upon all of the skills of the competition balloonist. The piloting capabilities needed are those required for duration, spot landing, speed, altitude control and most of all meteorology.
In order to navigate a balloon on a long distance flight one must be able to control the balloon to take advantage of the meteorological conditions. Sensitive altitude, rate of climb and global positioning instrumentation is essential in order to follow minute by minute advice from ground based weather coaches. Information, including complete weather maps, can be communicated by wireless Internet E-mail connections.
For an interstate “Long Jump” which is normally only a few hours duration, the weather can be forecast with adequate accuracy. For an Intercontinental flight, which can be several days, re-evaluation of computer generated weather model is important. For the global circumnavigation it was essential.
Champion Balloon Pilot Bruce Comstock describes the
conditions suitable for a hot air balloon flight of several hundred miles. “I
cannot explain why my Long Jump weather situation happens. What I do
know is that it is fast and relatively straight flow above five to ten
thousand feet msl with surface high pressure below. The surface high
pressure moves in the same direction and with almost the same speed as the
upper level wind, making for easy take off and landing. It is easy to
recognize in forecast charts several days ahead.”
For the successful global voyage only a general meteorological condition can be chosen. It is just impossible to calculate weather condition two and three weeks in advance at locations all the way around the world with today’s science. The general condition and the immediate forecast govern the decision to launch. Then once the balloon is airborne and on its way the model must be constantly updated and the balloon navigated to precisely take advantage of the varying conditions. While the aeronauts of the 19th Century had balloons that could theoretically cross the Atlantic, all attempts failed because they neither had the meteorology nor the means to communicate it to the balloon.
DeRozier attempted the first crossing of the English Channel with his invention of a combination hot air and gas balloon, but the first successful crossing was with an orthodox Charliere in 1785 by Blanchard and Jeffries. A modern hot air balloon with a single nylon skin and a liquid propane burner made the first hot air crossing in 1963 by Ed Yost and Don Piccard. The first crossing of the Atlantic was made with a pure gas plastic balloon by Abruzzo, Anderson and Newman in 1978. Several around the world balloon flights were attempted with various systems, but the final success was made in 1999 by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones on a combination hot air and helium Deroziere, “Breitling Orbiter III”, with a pressurized cabin.
Certainly the success of the Breitling depended on several factors. The balloon, cabin and meteorology were all unique and individually critical.
by Don Piccard
©2005