Balloons

[ATCNetwork]

I was following a balloon race last week called the 'coupe de Gordon Bennett'. It is an endurance race held every year, the object to travel the furthest. One of the balloons that made a journey of 2000 km was suddenly awarded a final total of 0km in the results standings. The rules state that infingments on atc requirments can cause a reduction of 2% of the travelled distance of the balloon and serious infringments a reduction of 5%. So i was very curious what they had done to lose the whole travelled distance.

Anyway yesterday they gave out a press release:


Incident:
Tuesday, September 12, 05:00, Alt 1252m
Position: N 63°08’ E 021°26”, short of CTR Vaasa

Balloon HB-QHJ has entered TMA Vaasa from West to East without clearance to enter controlled airspace. Pilot called in on Vaasa frequency after 10 to 15 minutes after entering the TMA. The balloon crossed Final RWY 16 of Vaasa airport; therefore a take-off clearance from RWY 34 for an Airbus had to be cancelled. Should it have taken off, an air collision would have been possible.
ATC will write a violation report.

The pilots of HB-QHJ brought themselves and the crew and passengers of an airplane in danger. This affiar caused extremely negative press replies, and brings the whole ballooning community in discredit and endangers the future of Coupe Gorden Bennett in Europe.

[JediDude]

How exactly do you know where you are in regards to airspace in a balloon? When I think "hot air balloon" I think a basket hanging from a big balloon, is there more to it than that? Do they have GPS, VHF, (TCAS even :} )?

[Chuchichäschtli]

Hi there,

are you serious?! I know that we're talking about a balloon race, but these chaps are normally not travelling at high speed and they're visible for miles and miles... An airbus, even shortly after being airborne, should be able to avoid such an obstacle without problems ...
I do agree that a report has to be filed, but this intruder is just as dangerous as any other entering a TMA or CTR without permission.

Regards,

CC

[vintage ATCO]

Well, a handheld GPS is no problem. All the ones I know has a handheld transceiver and a few commercial ones even have a transponder.

I was doing 'Grantham Radio' for the DH Moth Club Sunday and a Virgin balloon called me lifting a couple of miles north so obviously he had read the NOTAMs ;) Balloons around Luton call and some have transponders.

[ATCNetwork]

because of the nature of this competition they all had to have transponders, GPS and a transmitting GPS to verify their total distance . You could follow the balloons live on the website from Antwerp to Finland/Norway where most of them landed. 2 ditched in the UK near Whitby & Leeds

the website is
http://www.gasballon.be/gb2006/index.php

[ATCNetwork]

seems the offending balloon was not as bad as originally reported...here is their report..


Disqualification of Team Switzerland 3


Disqualification of Team Switzerland 3

The 2006 Gordon Bennett Race will go down in history with the longest tracks ever achieved on the European continent. For all crews it was a unique experience with many unforgettable experiences and impressions.

Unfortunately, this race had to deal as well with a number of violations of controlled air space. Also Switzerland 3 is among the alleged culprits:
On the morning of September 12 around 06:20 we cruised at about 6000 ft above the Botti Sea towards Finland. Winds were far from ideal, though. We were very busy with the evaluation of meteorological data over the satellite phone. Too late did we realize that Vaasa airport was straight ahead of us. We already were 10 Minutes well within the TMA when we immediately contacted Vaasa airport. ATC reacted quite calmly and advised us to descend below 1000 ft. That was exactly what we immediately did. ATC gave no sign of an aircraft on ground unable to take off because of Switzerland 3. That was communicated to us not earlier than next morning on the occasion of the presentation of the final results when we were confronted with our disqualification.

Wondering about why we did not file formal protest against this extremely hard judgment is now widespread. But we finally came to the conclusion that we should signal to all present and future Gordon Bennett pilots that air space infringements cannot be tolerated under any circumstances nowadays.

In our case it was the alleged delay of a scheduled aircraft. On the other hand, in Stavanger and Bodo all balloons have for whatever reasons committed air space violations without advance notice, thus blocking the airports for some time. The close examination of these cases is still under way, and we are quite curious about its results. Understandably, we expect from the Gordon Bennett Race authorities an evenhanded approach and the application of equally strict yardsticks to all air space infringements as well as the eventual disqualification of crews involved – irrespective of names and ranks.

Although our disqualification does, in our opinion, not conform with the rules, we do accept it. But we also hope that pilots in future Gordon Bennett Races will strictly adhere to the ATC-rules , so that the final results can be presented without any legal proceedings hovering in the background.

We are very sorry to have caused additional work for the officials of the 2006 Gordon Bennett Race.

Team Switzerland 3: Kurt Frieden and Stefan Zeberli

[M609]

Today Wideroe Airline filed a 250.000,-NOK claim against the Gordon Bennett Race for costs sustained due to cancelation of 13 flights from airports below the Helgeland TMA.

At least 2 balloons switched off both transponder and VHF comms, causing Bodø ATCC to loose track of the flights.

The Norwegian CAA opened an investigation on the day of the incident.