Missing Gordon Bennett race balloonists' remains found

[aviate1138]

Ah Nostalgia! 25th September 2010 sees the many gas filled balloons departing from a private field near Bristol and flying for maybe 5 days non-stop, the winner recording the furthest distance from the start point. Should be fun. They can be any height from near ground level to probably 10,000 + feet.

Anyone encountering such a balloon is allowed to interject the appropriate "Gordon Bennett" in a loud voice! Probably after a mouthful of stronger epithets......

Welcome! - Home Page | 54th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett 2010 Official Site (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/)

They launch tonight at 19:00 hrs local. The Met Office is supplying the weather info - so that doesn't bode well does it? :rolleyes:

[Sir George Cayley]

There's a thread running on the Bright Side with a link to the webcam

Don Cameron tells me the first away will be around 22.30.

Sir George Cayley

[Sir George Cayley]

Robin Batchelor is live on the webcam now

SGC

[coldair]

This is getting quite interesting.

The Swiss team has now covered 1604 km, are currently over Italy at 14,000 feet, 45 knots heading 085.

Well done those guys, must be hard work, fun, and using all the Met info available to achieve this.

Just wish I was flying around that area to see them.

2010 Tracking Page | 54th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett 2010 Official Site (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/tracking)

They seem to descending now, perhaps to land in Italy or just the other side of the Adriatic sea.

Wish ther was live video.

[EGTE]

Permission to overfly Italy at night has been refused (according to the briefing I heard at the launch site on Saturday). Anyone doing so will be disqualified. Some of the chasing pack may have decisions to make!

[DBo]

There is no night flying allowed within 5km of Italian territory at night. 14 of the 20 teams have landed in Southern france or Northern Spain. the remaining 6 are still flying. The Swiss team made a brave early move by climbing high to get a faster wind immediately after launch (it costs loads of ballast to go high early; which reduces your potential duration) which seems to have paid off; they crossed across italy before nightfall and are over Bosnia now. The other 5 teams are flying low to slow down and avoid entering Italian airspace before dawn. It's turning into a very tactical race...

Dave

[Fitter2]

There is no night flying allowed within 5km of Italian territory at night.

The briefing said 5 Nautical Miles (I thought an odd unit for the Italians, but it is international). Not that it makes much difference, unless you are 4 NM from the coast at 30 mins before sunrise.

The group over the Med. tonight will be interesting to watch (via their trackers).

[Aeronut]

I never knew ballooning could be so exciting. This race has been full of suspense and intrigue. Far more exciting than Formula One!!


5 Still airborne. Swiss have set the bar high. GB balloon still in with a chance.
LIVE Tracking Page | 54th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett 2010 Official Site (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/tracking)

[dublinpilot]

The Swiss team made a brave early move by climbing high to get a faster wind immediately after launch (it costs loads of ballast to go high early; which reduces your potential duration) which seems to have paid off

For those of us who are non balloners, could you explain that? Do you mean that they are burning lots of fuel to get up high, and then obviously don't have so much fuel left over to keep them up there?

Or do you mean something else by ballast?

Thanks

dp

[Fitter2]

Hi Dublin Pilot

These are gas balloons, not hot air.

Here are a few:
http://i51.tinypic.com/sm8sg3.jpg
Fill with hydrogen (yes, H2, not helium, you can't get enough to waste apparently) ballast until just lighter than air and off you go. Cooling down at night, you dump ballast, warming up in the day you vent gas. Same process to control altitude to be in the layer with the optimum wind strength and direction.

If you enjoy sitting in an open basket for several days and nights, you can go quite a long way.

[Sir George Cayley]

In the case of the Swiss 1 team all the way to the Black Sea:ok:

Good effort and well done. Now it's up to three left to beat this.

Sir George Cayley

[doubledolphins]

So it realy is Hydrogen then? Was it wise to have a hot air balloon with them all for the launch. Health and Safety rules from 100 years ago as well? Fantastic!

[dublinpilot]

Fill with hydrogen (yes, H2, not helium, you can't get enough to waste apparently) ballast until just lighter than air and off you go. Cooling down at night, you dump ballast, warming up in the day you vent gas. Same process to control altitude to be in the layer with the optimum wind strength and direction.

If you enjoy sitting in an open basket for several days and nights, you can go quite a long way.

Thank you very much! Makes perfect sense when you explain it so clearly :ok:

[Katamarino]

doubledolphins; is it really wise to drive around in cars with a tank full of flammable liquid, and explosions going on in the engine mere feet away? :ugh:

For goodness sake, the fuel gas cyclinder of the hot air balloon was slightly closer to the balloon's flame than the small, unpressurized quanitities of hydrogen in the other balloons were, no?

People really need to get a clue and realise that hydrogen does not automatically equal terrible firey explosion.

[coldair]

From the BBC

BBC News - Hydrogen race balloon goes missing in Adriatic storm (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11434556)

"One of the balloons taking part in the Gordon Bennett Cup is missing in thunderstorms over the Adriatic.
The missing hydrogen balloon, piloted by Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis, is one of three US entries.
A spokeswoman at race control in Bristol said contact had been lost with the balloon, and there was concern that it might have had to ditch."


The live tracking information seems to have been switched off. Keep fingers crossed guys thet all aboard will be OK.
Hope that the organisers will soon allow the live tracking to resume.

Very well done to the Swiss team for their magnificant effort.
Any news re. the 'missing' please post. I'm hoping that they are alive and well.
............................................................ .
Update from the Guardian newspaper UK



Balloon race pair missing over Adriatic

Two Americans taking part in the Gordon Bennett gas balloon race are no longer in contact with their support team



Adam Gabbatt (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/adam-gabbatt)
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Wednesday 29 September 2010 14.12 BST

Concern is growing over the fate of two Americans who went missing this morning while competing in the world's oldest balloon race.
Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis lost contact with their support team a while after 7am UK time as they flew over the Adriatic Sea. The pair are taking part in the 54th annual Gordon Bennett gas balloon race (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/).
The Italian coastguard has dispatched a helicopter and rescue boat to search for the pair, with thunderstorms expected in the area later today. All the other competing balloons have landed safely, with the British team of David Hempleman-Adams and Simon Carey coming third after touching down in Serbia at 11am this morning.
The race saw competitors fly from Easter Compton, in Bristol, at 11pm on Saturday. The winning team is the one which flies their gas-powered balloon the furthest from the start location.
The vast majority of teams foundered at the south coast of France, after having flown over 600 miles (1,000km), however teams from Switzerland, Germany, France, Britain and the US continued across the Mediterranean.
A tracking graphic on the website for the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon race (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/tracking) shows the French team landed near Naples, and the German, Swiss and British teams continued across to the Baltic coast.
The tracker shows that the last contact from the US team came in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. Don Cameron, race flight director, said: "We're all somewhat worried about them.
"We've been in touch with the Italian rescue services, and they have deployed a helicopter and fast boat in the area, but they're getting no contact from their emergency locator transmitter, so we just don't know if they're even still airborne or not."
An emergency locator transmitter can be activated by the balloon pilots, or will activate automatically if it comes into contact with water.
"We're a little bit worried because there are thunderstorms in or over the Adriatic Sea," Cameron added. "At the moment there's just concern. There's nothing we can do except wait for news."
Cameron said Abruzzo and Rymer Davis, who together won the Gordon Bennett race in 2004, were "very experienced" fliers.
The last update on the Gordon Bennett tracking page showed the pair had flown 1,758km. The Swiss team of Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witpraechtiger won the race with after flying 2,434km, landing in Romania on the coast of the Black Sea yesterday.
The German team made it to Moldova before touching down this morning.
Jo Bailey, a member of the British flight control team, said their team were disappointed but had to land in the face of deteriorating weather conditions.
"It's such a shame because David [Hempleman-Adams] was really going for the win," she said. Hempleman-Adams won the race with a different partner – Jon Mason – in 2008.
"At the end of the day, however much he wants to win, safety is paramount."
Hempleman-Adams and Carey landed in woodland, using trees to break their speed, Bailey said. A post on the team's blog (http://www.hempleman-careygb.co.uk/blog-entry/landed) said they had been flying at a low level before landing in Nis, Serbia.
Bailey said the pair had been collected by their retrieve crew less than five minutes after landing and were safe and well.


............................................................ ...............................

Fingers crossed for these brave and adventurous aviators.

Coldair

[doubledolphins]

I think you totally missed my point. I was not being ironic when I said "Fantastic". But I do recall from my school days that Hydrogen is highly flamable when presurised or not. Could a lightning strike set it off?

[Sir George Cayley]

Ironic that now there's some concern over one of the competing crews, the media have started to take an interest.

I'm thinking about Team USA 2 and hoping for a safe outcome. Fingers crossed.

Sir George Cayley

[Supermattt]

Can't wait to hear of their fun bobbing around...

[chesterflyer]

Has anyone heard any updates on this yet??? Are the crew safe??

[coldair]

Sad to say that there is no good news so far about the US team, Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davies - USA team 2.

Ir they entered a CB it would have been one of the most difficult cahllenges that a balloon could face. Massive down draughts and up draughts.

Let's just hope that they are somehow OK.

This has been a very exciting race ( much better then Formula One ) as another poster said.

Fingers crossed guys :)

This is the latest from the Gordon Bennet Control Centre;



News Announcement 16.00 BST, Gordon Bennett Control Centre


Submitted by Jo Slade on Thu, 2010/09/30 - 14:52 UTC

The search and rescue operation continues for Gordon Bennett Race pilots Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davis, Team USA2, balloon registration N801NM. The pilots are American citizens.
The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) have been very proactive in their search using one aircraft, four boats and one helicopter to search sea and coastal areas.
The Italian MRCC has been extremely thorough in their operations, but unfortunately all items found have not been related to the search.
The MRCC have the support of the Croatian and Greek Search and Rescue authorities.
We are grateful to the US Consulate in Naples who has designated assets to the search operation.
Immediate and extended family of both pilots politely request that the press do not make contact with them. They do, however, appreciate the efforts of all who are raising the profile of the incident which is helping the search to gain momentum.
Both families are most grateful to all who have sent their good wishes and messages of support, and apologise that they will not be able to reply individually.
When information is available it will be posted on the www.gordonbennett2010.com (http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/) site. The next planned statement will be after 9am on Friday 1st October.
Don Cameron
Flight Director, 54th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett
Bristol, GB.

[Aeronut]

It is such a shame that the race ended this way. It was utterly gripping and I wished I had taken a few days off to really enjoy it. Definitely better than F1.

My thoughts are with Arbruzzo and Rymer-Davies and their families and friends.

[Sir George Cayley]

A further statement issued late this afternoon is very upsetting. Don Cameron calls the latest info as "pessimistic".

I think prayers for all concerned are called for.

Sir George Cayley

[Supermattt]

I'm really sad to have read the latest statement.

[OA32]

The Swiss team made a brave early move by climbing high to get a faster wind immediately after launch (it costs loads of ballast to go high early; which reduces your potential duration) which seems to have paid off; they crossed across italy before nightfall and are over Bosnia now.

The Swiss team that won didn't climb high immediately after launch as they went past the Channel Islands no higher than 2500', they only went high level after approaching Rennes in France.I had the pleasure of talking to most of the balloons during the early part of their journey so I was somewhat sad to learn that the American Team had gone missing and my thoughts are with their families.

[172driver]

Just stumbled across this (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8042254/Italy-calls-off-search-for-US-balloonists.html).

Sad news. :(

[vanHorck]

This is indeed turning out into one of the most dramatic accidents of this year in private aviation.

I've always preferred wings to any other form of aviation but there is a beauty and grace to ballooning, quite apart from it being the first method of human flight.

To add to all this, how well they were doing in the race as well as the fact nothing so far has been found.... truly sad.

I also hope their flight path data are published (I understand the organization have them?), together with the known weather so all can possibly learn, CB's are not to be messed with!

[Sir George Cayley]

Damn :(

SGC

[cats_five]

A sad but inevitable end.

"The remains of two American balloonists who went missing in September have been found in the Adriatic Sea, Italian coastguards have said."

Full story:

BBC News - Missing Gordon Bennett race balloonists' remains found (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11925336)

[beamender99]

BBC News - Missing Gordon Bennett race balloonists' remains found (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11925336)

[onetrack]

I would have thought, that travelling long distance in the atmosphere, in a hydrogen-fuelled balloon, would have been essentially a death wish. The fact that the last tracked movement reported, was vertically towards the Earth at 50 mph... and that no emergency beacon was set off... only points to catastrophic failure, and the rendering incapable of the baskets occupants. All these factors point to one almighty hydrogen explosion... :{