Transatlantic Balloon Flight

These are photos I took last evening of the explorer David Hempleman-Adams who is piloting a small gas balloon from St John's, Newfoundland to Europe.

Here are some facts I copied from the Toshiba website on the journey. You can visit the Toshiba website and find out more about the transatlantic flight by clicking on this link: http://www.toshibachallenge.com/?act=Home

This will be a new FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) world record in distance. The 3425 km journey could take four days, depending on the weather.

This is unique compared to other transatlantic flights because it is solo and in an open wicker basket open to the elements. No one has ever flown the Atlantic in a balloon as small as this.

David will be flying between 6000 ft to 15,000 ft depending on the weather track. As David is flying in an open wicker basket at this altitude he will be more susceptible to bad weather such as rain, ice and cold. The temperatures could go as low as minus 30 c.

In the photos above I show the balloon as it is being filled with helium, a picture of David being photographed in his survival suit, then in the basket of the balloon and finally the fourth picture shows him going over his check list just before lift off. It was dark when liftoff occurred and I couldn’t get a decent picture to share with you because of darkness.