Man attempts to cross Atlantic with 370 balloons

[schwartzie]

Helium balloons lift aviator Jonathan Trappe Up for transatlantic trip

American who has used the method to cross the Channel and the Alps takes off from Maine suspended by 370 balloons



Staff and agencies
The Guardian, Thursday 12 September 2013 14.46 EDT



Jonathan Trappe soars in his bid to become the first man to cross the Atlantic in a balloon cluster system. Photograph: Paul Cyr / Barcroft USA

An American aviator has begun the first attempt to cross the Atlantic suspended by hundreds of coloured balloons. Jonathan Trappe took off from Caribou, Maine, on Thursday morning as his capsule was lifted by 370 helium-filled balloons in heavy fog and he headed east from the US.

The concept may sound like the story from the Disney film Up but Trappe, 39, specialises in cluster ballooning and was the first person to cross the Channel and the Alps using the method.

The transatlantic trip could be as long as 2,500 miles (4,000km) and take between three and five days. Depending on the weather, he could land anywhere between Iceland and Morocco.

Trappe is relying on state of the art weather data from the meteorologist who advised Felix Baumgartner on his record-breaking skydive from the stratosphere last year. The latest weather reports suggested winds would take Trappe to western Europe.

"Weather is absolutely the most dangerous factor," said Trappe, speaking immediately before launch. " It's the only thing that will carry me across, but bad conditions could also ruin the attempt or endanger my life."

Trappe, an IT project manager from Raleigh, North Carolina, said: "It was nail-biting waiting for a weather window that would allow me to get up into the air and catch those transatlantic winds we'd been seeing. I need to get on them and ride them across like a conveyor belt."

Trappe will climb as high as 25,000ft (7.6km) to ride the winds that will propel him towards Europe. To ascend he will drop ballast and to descend he will pop or release balloons.

Trappe already holds the record for the longest ever cluster balloon flight of 14 hours. "This is far greater than anything achieved before," he said. I'm looking at 62 hours or longer."

On previous flights Trappe travelled on an office chair suspended by the balloons. On this trip, he is travelling inside a small yellow lifeboat. "If I touch down on water then the attempt will be over as it will be impossible to take off again, but the boat will keep me alive," he said. "It will be incredibly dangerous as I could be several days away from any rescue crew and it will mean surviving rough seas for a long time, alone."

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[PurplePuppy]

Balloonist’s attempt to cross Atlantic ends after only 12 hours
Aviator Jonathan Trappe’s attempt to become the first person ever to cross the Atlantic using 370 helium balloons has ended in failure – only 12 hours into the journey.



The journey is the first of its kind and a successful crossing will see Trappe fly into the history books as the first person ever to scale the ocean in a flight of this type. Photo: BARCROFT MEDIA

Article



Mr Trappe was forced to make an early landing in Newfoundland, Canada, due to a technical issue.

Mr Trappe, 39, an IT consultant from Raleigh, North Carolina, took off on Thursday morning at 6.30am EDT, but only 12 hours later, Kevin Knapp, speaking from the command centre overseeing the flight, was he was forced to abandon the flight.

“Thankfully he is safe and well and currently making preparations to get home,” Mr Knapp said. “While disappointing that he had to cut his quest across the Atlantic short, I know Jonathan thanks everyone for their support and encouragement.”

Despite fears Atlantic weather systems would be the greatest obstacle to achieving his dream crossing, the landing was blamed on a technical problem relating to the balloons.

Mr Trappe sets off on his doomed Atlantic crossing attempt on September 12


Fans of the adventurer who were following his movements via a satellite tracker were first alerted to his plight at around 7.30pm EDT.

Mr Trappe wrote on his Facebook page: “Hmm, this doesn’t look like France.”

He later wrote: “Landed safe, at an alternate location. Remote. I put the exposure canopy up on the boat. Will stay here for the night.”

He had faced a 100 day wait for the right weather conditions, with local storms forcing him to stay grounded.

“It was nail biting waiting for a weather window that would allow me to get up into the air and catch those transatlantic winds we’d been seeing,” he said. “I need to get on them and ride them across like a conveyor belt.”

He already holds the record for the longest ever cluster balloon flight of 14 hours.

He became the only person to have crossed the English Channel by cluster balloon in May 2010, and the Alps in September 2011.

Previous flights have seen him travel in an office chair suspended by the balloons. This time he elected to dangle inside a small yellow life boat in case he ditched into the ocean.

After spending the night in the boat, he sent a message saying: “Honestly did not know if I would survive that landing.”

He added that he had 60 litres of water, 38 litres of Gatorade and 60,000 calories-worth of food, as well as shelter and exposure gear and he would possibly spend another night there, spending the day breaking down the craft.

While Mr Trappe was the first ever to attempt an Atlantic cluster balloon crossing, five people have died trying to cross the ocean in 12 total attempts using hot-air balloons or more conventional single gas balloons.

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