Balloon Pilots Are In Flight For A More Than 6,000 Mile Journey To Cross The Pacific From West To East

It was announced at the Albuquerque Balloon Fest last year that pilots Troy Bradley and Leonid Tiukhtyaev planned to make a flight from Japan to the United States in a gas filled balloon. That flight began on Saturday, January 24, and as of the last reports is progressing well.

Ballooning has been a popular sport and adventure ever since it was invented in the late 1700s. It is commonly thought of as a sport involving hot air style balloons which are the most popular for recreational balloonists. Pure gas ballooning still remains a novelty and the flight being performed by the team known as the “Two Eagles” is being made in such a balloon.

Referred to as “straight gas” balloons, they are unable to control the lift of the gas bag through the use of burners as is used by hot air balloons and hybrid balloons called "Rozieres." A straight gas balloon is limited to controlling buoyancy by adjusting ballast and venting gas. As stated on their website, you fly them with a “Dash of boldness as the fuel.”

The longest distance ever made by a gas balloon prior to this attempt was in 1981 when 4 men flew a helium filled balloon named the Double Eagle V from Nagashima Japan and landed three and a half days later in California. If successful, Two Eagles may also capture the world duration record for gas balloons, set in 1978 by the Double Eagle II on a 5 day flight across the Atlantic. In fact, the Two Eagles may not only cross the Pacific, but they may also continue across the United States.

The crew capsule carrying the pilots was built in Albuquerque by Composite Tooling. It is a Kevlar/carbon-fiber composite, giving it tremendous strength at a very light weight (about 220 pounds). It is designed to withstand the impact of a hard landing and provide shelter from whatever inhospitable conditions may be encountered.

The capsule's interior is 7 feet long, 5 feet high, and 5 feet wide. It is like a closet with a 5 foot ceiling and smaller in area than a king size bed. It is non-pressurized, so the two pilots will have to be on oxygen whenever they are flying above 12,000 feet.

As this report is written, they are on their way across the Pacific. The website reports that most of their first day was spent flying over Japan. It’s reported that are traveling east at about 46 knots at 15,000 feet. You can follow their flight and receive continuous updates through the website shown below.

FMI: www.pacificballoon.com