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THE GREAT NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD BALLOON RACE
Chapter Nine - November 2, 1998 The Virgin Global Challenger Website Team was kind enough to ask me to do a guest column for them. If it is not still online at their website when you read this you may find it in their Archive of Feature Articles. They also announced a series of trials for the new Challenger balloon envelope are being conducted by Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand at Reno, Nevada. They gave a little background information on reserve Pilot/Engineer, Dave Jackson, who has been full time on the Challenger project for 3 years and will be a last minute replacement if one should be required. Also, Bob Rice, Chief Meteorologist of Steve's Solo Spirit team, has signed on as a welcome addition to their weather group. Nothing has been said about the other, former member of the Virgin Team, Rory McCarthy, whom Steve will replace. Detailed information about last season's Virgin Global Challenger balloon's design, crew, equipment, planned route, etcetera are contained in prior Chapters of this article and this season's changes are in their website, listed below. The South African entry, the Global Conqueror, is still seeking a principal sponsor. They have rewritten their website, listed below. If you have about 3 million dollars you'd like to exchange for about a billion dollars worth of publicity, contact Geritt Coetzee. The Breitling Orbiter 3 has posted a new, first-draft website showing a two-man team of Bertrand Piccard and Tony Brown. No reason was given for the defection of Wim Verstraeten. They will switch from kerosene to propane as fuel for their Rozier type balloon this time. Look for a liftoff from Chateau d' Oex, Switzerland anytime from mid-November until mid-February. The new "World Quest" balloon, with pilots Dick Rutan and Dave Melton, plans to launch in the Southern Hemisphere from Chile around July 1999. They are still looking for a principal sponsor. They have completed fabrication of a new, pressurized crew capsule and plan a stratospheric jet stream route with a pure gas, super pressure, and multi-envelope balloon. Read about their new approach in their website, listed below. They believe the Rozier type balloons have inherent limitations that might prevent the successful completion of a circumnavigation. Who knows? They may be right. Their effort will be more sophisticated and expensive. Call Dick or Dave to be a principal sponsor. The reason Andy Elson was described as 'being unavailable' to the Breitling team this year is that he was quietly planning a new entry into the race with Colin Prescot as his pilot. I have been privileged to watch the development of a beautiful new website for that endeavor for several months. A last minute change in sponsors resulted in the new sponsor, Cable & Wireless, bringing in it's own website team to complete it or re-do it. Whereas Andy was described in the Breitling adventure as being an English Engineer, which he is, he is also one of the most experienced balloon pilots in the world and has been involved in record breaking flights for many years. He has over 4,000 hours in balloon flight time. Colin Prescot, as owner and operator of Flying Pictures, is probably the world's largest user of hot air balloons and has a long and distinguished record as a fixed-wing and balloon pilot. They have assembled an outstanding crew and plan to launch the Cable & Wireless Balloon from Southern Spain the later part of this year or in January. They will use kerosene as fuel in burners of Andy's design in a high altitude Rozier type balloon. Cable & Wireless is one of the world's leading providers of integrated communications and a major global carrier of Internet data, voice and video communications. They will handle all traffic to and from the balloon during the flight. We will list their new website as soon as we have it so that you may read all the details. There are also several "new" lighter-than-air technologies in the hopper which will probably not wind up in the race this year. One "new" concept is almost mind boggling. We will keep you posted as things develop. Expect a new announcement from Kevin Uliassi and his J.Renee balloon shortly. Lou Billones, distinguished Chief Meteorologist of the Spirit of Peace team and his associate, Scott Risch, have recently codified effects from El Nino and La Nina in an article on their website. They have studied the historical effects of both on the jet streams over many years and have compiled enough data to take some of the uncertainty out of predicting this disruptive pair's influence on the winds aloft and ballooning meteorology. The balloon envelope was successfully test inflated by Cameron, it's manufacturer, in England in mid-October. Mark Sullivan and Crispin Williams, two of the three pilots on the Spirit of Peace team, recently won 2nd place in the 1998 America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race from Albuquerque during the annual Balloon Fiesta. Check their website. The FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) international governing body for awards and standards in ballooning is studying the possibility of a "Great Balloon Race," a RTW event to occur every four years starting in the year 2000. It would offer a beautiful trophy and a substantial cash prize. Just click on the addresses in the Index to go take a look. All are interesting and informative. 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