Flying high in the air, Barbara Fricke and Peter Cuneo have little room for their long legs. The husband-and-wife pilots camp in the small basket of their balloon. A solar panel, Cheez-Its, and a GPS unit also share the space. Now that’s a tight squeeze!
The pilots hope to ride in the four-feet by five-feet basket for as long as possible. The side of the basket has a trap door. They can open it and stretch out.
“You’ve got to start thinking, ‘Yes, I’m going to live in this basket for three days, and this is going to be home, and I’m just camping out in the sky,’” Ms. Fricke says.
On October 7, 17 teams will take off in a gas balloon race called the Gordon Bennett competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Whoever flies the farthest wins.
The racers try to chart a good course and stay out of bad weather. No stopping. No picking up extra supplies. Wind will likely carry them through the Midwest toward the northeastern United States. They may even reach Canada!
A Belgian team holds the record for farthest balloon flight. It was just over 2,112.9 miles. A German team stayed aloft more than 92 hours. That’s the longest.
Many gas balloons use hydrogen to float. Hydrogen is lighter than air. It can cost a few thousand dollars to fill just one balloon with the gas.
Ms. Fricke and Mr. Cuneo won the America’s Challenge long-distance gas balloon race four times. They’ve placed third and fourth in other Gordon Bennett competitions.
Mark Sullivan and Cheri White will compete too. Mr. Sullivan holds the record for the most competition gas balloon flights. He has competed 46 times. Ms. White has flown in the Gordon Bennett 14 times. That’s the most ever by a female pilot.
Mr. Sullivan took his first balloon flight back in 1985. The wind howled. His balloon crashed into a barbed wire fence. He and his copilot jumped out of the basket. The wind dragged the balloon for another mile. The basket tore through more barbed wire and herds of horses and cattle.
The balloon was shredded. The basket was mangled. And Mr. Sullivan was in love with the sport. “It’s the adventure,” he says.
He lays the beams of His chambers on the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He rides on the wings of the wind. — Psalm 104:3
