Two pilots from the US and Russia have traveled farther and longer in a gas balloon than anyone in history, trying to eliminate any remaining debate over a century of records in long-distance ballooning.
The Two Eagles pilots surpassed the distance and duration records that have been held since the 1970s and 1980s and were aiming on Friday for a safe landing somewhere on a beach in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia lifted off from Japan on Sunday last week, and by Friday, they beat what is considered the “holy grail” of ballooning achievements, the 137-hour duration record set in 1978 by the Double Eagle crew of Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman in the first balloon flight across the Atlantic.
By Friday afternoon, the Two Eagles team had been in the air more than 143 hours and was smashing the distance record, having traveled more than 10,000km across the Pacific Ocean.
“The technology has improved so much in the last couple of years. I don’t think there’s going to be any question about the records,” Balloon Federation of America regional director Katie Griggs said.
People have been tracking their progress online and through social media Web sites. However, the official distance and time of the Two Eagles flight must be confirmed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which requires staying aloft 1 percent longer and farther than the previous record.
The balloon is outfitted with an array of monitors and other instruments that are tracking its course and compiling the data, using technology that did not exist in decades past, leaving some claims unproven.
Their first target was the official distance record of 8,382km set by the Double Eagle V team during the first trans-Pacific flight in 1981. They surpassed that on Thursday.
Mission control director Steve Shope said their priority now is getting the balloon to a safe landing after bad weather along the US west coast forced them to make a sharp right turn toward Mexico.
“Maybe later when they get down on the ground I can look back and say this is a great accomplishment, but right now we have a big job ahead of us to get this balloon down,” Shope said.
On final approach to a beach in Baja California, the pilots plan a “splash and dash” for the cameras, skimming the surface of the ocean before rising to set down on some dunes. Once they reach the sand, they will have traveled more than 10,940km.
A chase crew of volunteers and members of the mission were en route Friday to record their arrival, help tether the craft and gather the balloon.
The journey has been tough on the pilots, who have been on oxygen for days; high altitude can take a physical toll. However, they have been managing to crack jokes when checking in with mission control and their families.
“The crew is in good spirits,” one of their air traffic coordinators Paul Jorgenson said.
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