The team at Two Eagles HQ have received some great photos from Pilots Leonid Tiukhtyaev and Troy Bradley on their journey across the Pacific in a gas balloon. Remember you can track the balloons progress at http://www.pacificballoon.com/tracking/index.php
Here is the latest update from Mission Control in Albuquerque, New Mexico: ‘Both pilots have set new “personal bests” for distance in a gas balloon flight. Leonid’s previous longest flight was 2,503 km (about 1,552 miles), set in the America’s Challenge race in 2012, when he flew with Wilhelm Eimers from Albuquerque to Elkton, VA. Troy flew the Atlantic with the late Richard Abruzzo from Bangor, Maine to Morocco during the Chrysler Transatlantic Challenge in 1992, travelling 5,340 km (3,318 miles). At this writing, Two Eagles has flown 6,796 km (4,223 miles), and is nowhere near the end of its journey.’
Here is a great picture of their balloon ‘Two Eagles’ with a description of how the component parts of the balloon work, as described by the team at http://www.pacificballoon.com/
This This latest photo was taken with a GoPro camera from the capsule looking up at the balloon envelope (the “balloon” part of the balloon). The blue line coming almost straight down at the camera pulls the valve at the top of the balloon that releases gas for maneuvering. The red line goes to the deflation ports that will be used to deflate the balloon on landing. The red circle of fabric around the inside of the envelope deflects moisture from any condensation that runs off the envelope away from the capsule.
