Breitling Orbiter 3's Logbook: Day 7,8 and 9.
Just before take-off, in Chateau d'Oex

Breitling Orbiter 3's Logbook: Day 7,8 and 9.

Trouble Ahead

Day 7 

Below us the Red Sea.

In front of us a big strip of Yemeni territory, south-west to north-east, a danger zone… supposed to be used for military training. We won't be able to avoid it… Anxiety ran high among our air traffic controllers in Geneva. All of us are thinking about the dreadful incident over Belarus in 1995 during the Gordon Bennett balloon race. One balloon was forced to land, the other was shot down, killing both pilots. Our HQ is clear : either we get permission to cross the zone, or we stop before it. Patrick, one of our flight controllers, tries to negotiate with the Yemeni civil aviation authority and Sanaa airport, asking for clearance.

Long and complicated discussions with Sanaa control tower that lead nowhere…The man on duty only spoke broken English and kept asking ‘What is the balloon’s destination?’ Patrick’s answer : ‘It’s going round the world’…to get the same question back :’What is its destination? If you have a flight plan, you must have a departure point and a destination? !!! The man couldn’t give clearance because he lacked authority to do so… All Patrick could do was trying to gauge the man’s mentality…In the end, Patrick got the impression it will be no problem. The impression, not the certitude...In the control center, the atmosphere remained electric as we were flying over the northern edge of the prohibited zone.. Although no sign of life from Yemen, we knew from the orange light flashing on our transponder that we were on their radar as we went over… 

We receive news from our competitors Andy and Colin aboard the Cable & Wireless balloon. They're in Japan, about to start the crossing of the Pacific. We are too far behind...

Brian goes to bed, unaware that the destiny of this flight is about to change... 

As I am minding my own business, on pilot duty, I receive a call from HQ : Cable & Wireless is ditching in the sea, 120km away from the Japanese coast, rescue is already on its way. They're safe. We are alone in this race. I am shocked, both for my friends Andy and Colin, imagining their frustration, but also for us thinking we could run into the same issue. I see Brian sleeping in the bed, but we had promised each other we would never wake up the sleeping pilot unless it was an emergency. Finally he wakes up.

"Brian ! I have incredible news !" Without hesitation, he replied "Andy’s down!"

Like me, he's shocked but relieved. We were catching up, but they were still four days in front of us. We are approaching Oman, on a trajectory that is perfect to reach China at the correct entry way. 

On the eve of this 7th day, more good news : Brian decides it is time for him to change underwear!

Day 8

I wake up finding out that we beat my own distance record. That's in the bag, at least ! 

Our meteorologists, Luc and Pierre, confirmed us that our position is perfect for entering China at the right point.  By constant experimentation, I discover that the layer of wind carrying us along on the 70 degree track is only 100m ( 300 feet) from top to bottom. All the more reason to be concentrated… 

Since Andy dropped out, the press is all over us, and as we are going slowly we have plenty of time to answer questions. I manage to keep track of our trajectory, which would make us reach China at 26 degrees, as requested. HQ is delighted.

All is well until it isn't. Mumbai tells us we do not have official autorisation allowing us to fly over India. We are thus banned from entering the Indian airspace, which we can't avoid. Our flight director Alan had applied for diplomatic clearance and asks for it again and again… and in the rush to get the balloon ready the matter had been overlooked. Now what ? We are about 400 km off the coast, on a waypoint for commercial airplanes …

Finally, after hours of discussions and negotiations, we are given permission to fly between 6000 and 7000m over India. All of this, we learned weeks later, at the end of our trip. Brian, who was flying, didn't know that our trip almost came to an end abruptly over the Indian ocean, because of bureaucrats.

Day 9

At sunrise, we are flying over India, To celebrate that we are back over inhabited territory, I change into clean clothes. This is a special day : it's our last one to adjust our point of entry to China. I am focused. 

The inefficiency of Indian communications is driving us nearly crazy. Radio contact is almost always difficult and we are relaying via passing aircrafts. Local air controllers are demanding to know our position every ten minutes !  

As I was concentrated on holding our trajectory, I suddenly hear an airplane calling me : “Hotel Bravo – Bravo Romeo Alpha, I have a surprise for you !” That's when I hear the voice of a good friend, Charles-André Ramseyer , on his way to India for work with a Swiss delegation: "A passenger saw you from the window ! He shouted 'Look, it's the Breitling balloon!'."We are all in the cockpit, tears to our eyes. We see your beautiful balloon, alone in the blue sky, carried by winds so far away from our homeland." Charles-André is the person who introduced me to the world of ballooning,  back in 1978. That encounter is one more little sign of fate that seemed ton mark our enterprise, I thought.

That afternoon brings us one of the most memorable moments. Too busy dealing with trajectory matters,  Brian and I hadn't been focusing on the outside. Suddenly, we realised we could see, some 400km away, her majesty the Himalayas, poking through the clouds to our left…

Bangladesh welcomes us over VHF radio, wishing us all the best. It's always nice when things go smoothly with air-controllers. Our passage over that friendly country is brief. Then Indian territory again, Myanmar, soon China. The Chinese have seen us coming...

Our first interaction with them worries us :“Your balloon is heading towards a no-fly zone. You need to land immediately”

Stay tuned for the next episode…

 

Très beau souvenir Bravo Bertrand 😘

Erik Roux

« Energy Efficiency : Pay As You Save »

9mo

Que de bons souvenirs!!! Merci Bertrand

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