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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on February 02, 2015, 02:28:50 am

Title: Balloon pilots arrive in New Mexico after historic flight
Post by: Buster's Uncle on February 02, 2015, 02:28:50 am

Balloon pilots arrive in New Mexico after historic flight
Associated Press
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN  58 minutes ago


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The two men hoping to set a new world record for traveling in a helium-filled balloon safely executed a water landing on the Baja coast near La Poza Grande in Mexico on Saturday. After traveling roughly 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, the team, consisting of pilots Troy Bradley and Leonid Tiukhtyaev, have now broken two long-standing records for ballooning. After spending almost a full week in the air, the two pilots were being retrieved by a fishing boat, with initial reports confirming that they're both now safe after the challenging journey.



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two pilots who completed a record-breaking flight across the Pacific Ocean in a helium-filled balloon returned to New Mexico on Sunday to the sounds of mariachi music and an enthusiastic and emotional welcome

A large crowd greeted Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia at the Albuquerque International Sunport after they finished the historic journey a day earlier. The news conference was adorned with colorful balloon decorations to mark the occasion, and the event included a champagne toast.

Bradley had been planning the trans-Pacific flight for 15 years, and his wife said he was driven by a goal of doing something better than anyone else in the world.

"Our flight was absolutely amazing," Bradley told reporters and supporters.

The accomplished Albuquerque pilot had set his sights long ago on flying farther and longer in a gas balloon than anyone in history. He and Tiukhtyaev staked their claim to those records during a nearly seven-day trip across the Pacific Ocean in a helium-filled balloon.

Their adventure ended just after sunrise Saturday when they touched down in the water a few miles off the coast of Mexico's Baja California, and about 300 miles north of the popular beach destination of Cabo San Lucas.


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Tami Bradley and her daughter Savannah pose for a picture in Albuquerque, N.M., after celebrating word that pilot Troy Bradley was safe and in a fishing boat headed to the Baja California shore following the water landing of the Two Eagles Balloon on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. The balloon surpassed a pair of major distance and duration ballooning records while during a six-day journey across the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)


Initial plans called for a picture-perfect landing on the beach, but winds pushing parallel to the coast forced the pilots to drop their trailing ropes into the ocean to help slow the balloon for a controlled water landing.

"That was the hardest part of the trip," Bradley said.

Hundreds of miles away at mission control in Albuquerque, cheers erupted and the cork was popped on a bottle of champagne. The team declared success once they knew the pilots had been picked up by a fishing boat. Mexican authorities helped to secure the balloon and capsule along with all the equipment aboard that was used to document the historic flight.

Back in Albuquerque on Sunday, another cork was popped on a bottle of champagne, this time with the two pilots and Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, who traveled to Mexico to personally meet the record-breakers.

"They helped put Albuquerque on the map," Berry said.


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Visitors to the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, N.M., are directed to the mission control center for the Two Eagles Balloon flight on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. The balloon has surpassed world records for distance and duration during its trip across the Pacific Ocean. It was scheduled to land on Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)


Bradley and Tiukhtyaev lifted off from Japan last Sunday. By Friday, they beat what's 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. They also easily exceeded the distance record of 5,209 miles set by the Double Eagle V team during the first trans-Pacific flight in 1981.

By the time they landed, the Two Eagle pilots had traveled 6,646 miles over six days, 16 hours and 38 minutes.

Asked if he and Bradley were still friends after such a long trip, Tiukhtyaev said no. "We stayed brothers," said Tiukhtyaev, who holds his own records and has participated in many long-distance gas balloon races in the United States and Europe.

Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Tiukhtyaev said he never thought about breaking the record with an American pilot. "But I've always dreamed about it since I was a child," he said in Russian.

The original route took the pilots on a path from Japan, across the Pacific Ocean and toward the Pacific Northwest before they encountered a wall of high pressure. They then made a sweeping right turn and headed south along the California coast for the Mexico landing.


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Members of the Two Eagles Balloon team mission control located in Albuquerque, N.M., discuss the balloon's route as landing preparations are made Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. The balloon has surpassed world records for distance and duration during its trip across the Pacific Ocean. It was scheduled to land on Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)


"We enjoy great views," Bradley said. "We took some great photos."


http://news.yahoo.com/pilots-helium-filled-balloon-land-safely-mexico-143844502.html (http://news.yahoo.com/pilots-helium-filled-balloon-land-safely-mexico-143844502.html)