|
The crew of SAVANNAH SIX are safely back in the much warmer conditions of South
Georgia. Andy and the crew extend their heartfelt graduated to all the members
of the Sioux Falls Balloon Club and the folks at Aerostar for their help and
expertise in getting us off the ground and into the record books.
The purpose of the trip to South Dakota was to practice and test the balloon system
in temperatures and conditions which we will expect to encounter in Canada in
January or February. Due to the extreme luck of the weather conditions at the
time of our visit, -20F to -5F and light winds over a 30 hour period, the
decision was made to attempt the AX-6 duration record on our first test
flight.
The first flight was aborted about eight minutes into the flight
due to the top not keeping its seal. Some 30 minutes later, after resetting
all the official timers and insruments, the flight was attempted again minus
the fuel lost on the first flight. Some problems in the systems were identified
during the flight with the lose of one of the empty 45 gallon fuel tanks due to
a line breaking while trying to lower it to the ground being the biggest
failure.
The balloon landed safely 23 hours 55 minutes 51 seconds later in
Oxbow, ND. with the envelope weighing some 84 pounds more than at take-off due
to ice. The Comstock auto-pilot worked flawlessly and in the early calculations
may have help increased fuel consumption by as much as 5 gallons an hour over
the entire flight period. The special "two-in-one can" burner system built by
Aerostar for SAVANNAH SIX weighs only 10 pounds and has ALL the capabilities of
a dual burner system. The experimental burner worked very well with the auto-
pilot. Some icing problems did happen in the later part of the flight and are
currently being addressed by Aerostar.
Pilot Andy Cayton and Crew Chief
David Sultan are now going over the entire system and are replacing the damaged
fuel tank. The web site will be updated each week and expect pictures from the
duration flight soon.
Plans are to move the equipment to Canada in January for
the distance record. The primary goal still lays in front of the team ; to fly
more than 1,000 miles non stop.
Hello friends...
Just received word that Andy Cayton has landed safely after setting a new
duration world record of 23 hours, 55 minutes, 51 seconds. This record
establishes a new record in Class A, size AX-6 balloons, beating the
existing record by 10 percent. According to information
received, the flight ended near Fargo, North Dakota this morning at
approximately 7:43 AM central standard time. Andy and the crew are
reported to be in good shape, although extremely tired. Plans are to stay
in the area where the balloon landed and get some rest and repack
equipment.
Previous record attempts in this catagory include Jon Kolba at 21 hours, 55
minutes on February 12, 2000 (below the same envelope that Andy used).
Bill Bussey flew his AX-6 for 21 hours, 13 minutes on January 30, 2000.
Prior to that, a person in Japan had set the international record in 1997
at 15 hours, 22 minutes.
Want more information on previous attempts? See the April, 2000 copy of
Balloon Life Magazine (p. 48) or the May, 2000 copy of Ballooning (p. 21),
the journal of the Balloon Federation of America.
Congratulations to all involved and thanks to everyone around the world who
urged Andy along via phone calls and e-mails!
Bob Tettman
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Hello folks....
Well, it's now 8:30 AM CST and Andy is still in the air! He has broken the
old DURATION record and is still tacking on additional minutes for the next
person to attempt to break. He is currently 15 miles southeast of Fargo,
North Dakota. Ironically, he is very near a little town named Comstock,
Minnesota (Andy is flying with a Bruce Comstock built cruise control).
Weather at 8:00 AM in Fargo found winds out of 130 degrees at about 3 miles
per hour. Ten miles visibility under clear skies with a temperature of -11
F (-24 C) and a barometer of 30.28. As of 8:00 AM Andy commented that he
and the chase crew were very tired, but he was still flying and wanting to
land the balloon on the very last of his fuel, probably within the next
hour. The Fargo, North Dakota airport tower (Hector International Airport)
had been notified and was on watch for Andy's Savannah Six balloon, but
it's unlikely to get that far with the light prevailing winds.
Congratulations go out to Andy Cayton of Savannah, Georgia (the pilot), Bob
Willbanks, Fred Dinkler and Karen Dinkler of Atlanta, Georgia (the chase
crew) and to Danni Suskin, Dave Sullivan and the folks at the Aerostar
factory for all their assistance. And, oh yeah.. congratulations me!
More updates as they become available! Way to go Andy !!!
Bob Tettman
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Good (late) evening everyone...
Andy Cayton is presently five miles north of Appleton, (southwestern)
Minnesota at 12:30 AM (CST), Wednesday, December 13th (local time). Andy's
current speed is nine MPH and his heading is 337 degrees. Current altitude
is 700 feet AGL. I just spoke with him on his satelite phone and he is in
good spirits. I asked him if he was warm enough and his reply was "I'm
snug as a bug in a rug". (An old phrase for yeah, I'm plenty warm). He's
closely watching the fuel remaining in his fourth large tank and is hoping
it will hold out for another half hour. He got 2 1/2 hours from his first
tank, 4 hours from his second, 5 1/2 hours from his third, and is hoping
for 6 to 6 1/2 from this fourth one. He still has about 45 - 50 gallons of
fuel on board after this fourth large tank expires. Of course, as his fuel
is consumed and tanks are lowered to the surface, the gross weight of the
balloon also drops, so fuel efficiency continues to improve. We're all
keeping our fingers crossed and wishing Andy continued good luck as his
quest continues. Those of you who have sent me e-mails to forward to Andy,
those well wishes have been relayed and he says thanks for thinking of him.
More as the situation warrants.
Bob Tettman
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Hello all..
At 3:35 PM central time (local), Andy Cayton had recently dropped his
second large tank. The drop was a good drop with no tank damage. He was
at 44.0558 N, 96.3798 W which is about 5 miles northwest of Pipestone,
Minnesota, just a mile or two east of the South Dakota / Minnesota state
line. Speed was about 6 knots toward 042 degrees (the northeast). Note
that the elevation where Andy is located is about 1700' MSL.
Weather at Pipestone, Minnesota at 6 PM read calm winds, ten miles
visibility, 9,000 feet scattered clouds and a temperature of -2 F (-19 C).
Barometric pressure was 30.25. Danni Suskin spoke with Andy recently and
he said that he was doing fine. He has an additional layer of cold weather
garments that he has not yet had to put on. As sunset falls Andy is
looking forward to flying through the night with a full moon overhead.
Moonrise over his flight should be at about 6:05 PM local time, very
shortly after sunset.
My thanks to Orvin Olivier and Danni Suskin who contibuted to this update.
More info to follow as it is available. Go Andy !!!
Bob Tettman (in Atlanta)
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
NEWS UPDATE
Hello friends...
Andy Cayton is now in the air and has begun his quest to set a new DURATION
record in the AX-6 catagory. The record setting attempt clock started
ticking at approximately 8:50 AM local time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Andy's balloon carries four 53 gallon (200 liters each) and three 20 gallon
(76 liters each) propane tanks, a total of 272 gallons of fuel weighing
over 1100 lbs (498 kg).
Ten o'clock local weather in Sioux Falls finds calm winds, temperature of
-11 F (-24 C), visibility ten miles under clear skies with a barometric
pressure of 30.41.
More updates as information becomes available.
Bob Tettman
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
NEWS UPDATE
DATE: 12/12/2000 8:58 AM
RE: Copy of: Savannah Six (2)
Hello friends,
As of 7:15 AM local time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Andy Cayton and the
Savannah Six team were at the launch field and laying the balloon out for
inflation. Launch is expected very soon. The current weather in Sioux
Falls finds calm winds, sky clear with a surface temperature of -17 F
degrees (-27C), altimeter 30.40.
Forecast for Sioux Falls at 7:00 AM was for winds out of 280 degrees (out
of the west) at five knots with a clear sky. By 11:00 AM the forecasted
winds switch around to 190 degrees (out of the south) at five knots (5.75
MPH) with clouds scattered at 20,000 feet. The 10:00 PM forecast is for
winds out of 130 degrees at ten knots with broken clouds at 7,000 feet.
I'll update again as soon as we know Andy is in the air.
Bob Tettman
AdVentures Aloft
Atlanta, Georgia USA
|
