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THE GREAT NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD BALLOON RACE
Chapter Thirteen - January 19, 1999 No sooner was the ICO Global Challenge Saga concluded by a weather trough near Oahu, Hawaii than the Team RE/MAX showed up at the Australian scientific balloon launch facility at Alice Springs ready for launch. The highly efficient RE/MAX press apparatus kicked into high gear in an attempt to keep the public's attention on the RTW race. First they replaced the nice website they had on the net forcing the viewer to go through their real estate website to find any information about the balloon. After numerous complaints they reinstated direct access but to a revised site that is more concerned in getting through their "hard sell" real estate message than providing data on the RTW attempt. One has to scroll down past current mortgage rates to reach the menu buttons for the various aspects of the flight and its preparations. Press releases came at the rate of two or three a day almost always stating that Dave Liniger had this or that to report and were topped off with a long paragraph about the real estate expertise of RE/MAX International. The accompanying photo, most of the time, was Dave doing this or Dave doing that. It became readily apparent that the purpose of the website was to promote RE/MAX International and Dave Liniger, its Chairman; and, very incidentally, to supply information about the RTW try. It improved slightly over the weeks. About New Years Day they announced that the flight would support the weight and supplies of only two pilots. One of the three must remain on the ground. Albuquerque, New Mexico, TV reporter and foreign correspondent Bob Martin has spent the last five years researching and promoting the concept of a manned high altitude balloon riding around the world in the stratosphere as unmanned scientific balloons have done numerous times. He is a serious and dedicated balloonist who has hundreds of hours in as Pilot In Charge. This entire idea is his dream from start to finish. Bob enlisted John Wallington, Australian ballooning champion as his co-pilot, and they sold the big Auzzie book chain, Dymocks, on becoming a sponsor. It soon became apparent that building the titanium space capsule and support systems needed would run to more money than even Dymocks was willing to spend. After a year of patiently waiting for a sponsor, more planning and additional research along came Dave Liniger and RE/MAX. Overnight the Dymocks Flyer became the Team RE/MAX balloon. The scientific support staff began to fear that the balloon's thin polyethylene envelope might become fatally brittle during its ascent through the troposphere (tropopause,) the bitterly cold thin air layer that lies between the upper atmosphere and the stratosphere. They figured the best thing was to pass through it as quickly as possible. The only way this could be accomplished in this pure helium system was to dump ballast (small steel balls) to reduce weight which would give it a faster rate of climb just before it started through the cold layer. The weight of the ballast needed would supplant the weight of one pilot and his supplies & might well be the difference between success and failure of the mission. Bob voluntarily offered to stay on the ground so it could go forward. It was the only way his idea, his dream, could be realized. From that moment onward the surface weather conditions were such as to prohibit a successful inflation and liftoff until the launch window for a successful circumnavigation had closed for the season. Dave Liniger, of course, announced that they will try again in December of 1999. In a story published in the Denver Post on Sunday, January 17, 1999, Medical/Science writer Ann Schrader said that wind and weather were just one of the teams' problems. Technical miscalculations, infighting, and media mishandling were equally blamed. It was even reported that insiders claimed Bob Martin's announcement was a result of him being forced off the flight. There was a brief flurry of excitement on Thursday, January 14, 1999 when the DPA German news agency reported that China was about to grant overflight permission to any and all balloon applicants. The Chinese Government informed both the British Embassy and the US Embassy in Beijing that the reporter had misinterpreted the contents of an internal memo he had seen & their position had not changed. Meanwhile, things are pretty much the same as before with the other teams at the ready or nearly ready to go stage except for the Global Conqueror and the World Quest which are still working on their funding. The Global Conqueror and the World Quest balloons are unconcerned about China or other political problems as they will fly over, possibly, 19 friendly countries on their Southern Hemisphere routes. Northern Hemisphere lower altitude balloons must consider avoidance of Russian, Iraqi, Iranian, Libyan and Chinese airspace as well as meteorological factors. Right now China has asked that all balloonists avoid Chinese air space until they have had a chance to review air safety considerations raised by the overflight of the ICO Global Challenge balloon. They have a legitimate concern in that their voice air traffic control system does not have modern radar to prevent midair collisions in their busy airspace. Many of their flight controllers speak nothing but Chinese so that even if a balloon reported its position accurately and frequently they could not understand. The weather has not been good for the four teams that are ready to go. The meteorologists in charge were unanimous in predicting a favorable change for the near future, however. Both the Cable and Wireless balloon with Andy Elson and Colin Prescot and Kevin Uliassi in the J.Renee were thinking seriously about trying to avoid China by attempting a more Southerly Route. What will happen if an ill wind accidentally blows them into Chinese air space? Today the needed jet stream disappeared from over Uliassi's launch site. George Dunnavan, Forecaster from Bob Rice's Weather Window group who heads Uliassi's weather team said that things don't look promising for the foreseeable future. The J.Renee volunteer launch team packed up and went home. Who will be the next away? We will post daily bulletins as soon as one or more are anticipating a liftoff. Our friends in each team all hope it may be sometime soon! Stay with us and join the excitement. Click on the Index of addresses to go take a look. All of the team sites are interesting and informative. 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