The locals call it "The Block". This might have something to do with the fact that getting from point A to point B can sometimes involve a 50km detour. I would soon experience "The Block" first hand.

Wednesday February 9th I had a look at the long term forecast with the hope that I could take a run at the Canadian distance record in the AX-07 classification. I had waited late into the season and I was going to take the next available shot even if it meant launching into unfavorable conditions. Unfavorable in this case means high temperatures and slow winds. The conditions early next week looked good. Monday was looking cold with high winds aloft. Highs around minus 5C during the day and lows close to minus 15C in the morning hours. Upper level winds looked promising as well with top speeds of 35 knots from 9,000 feet to 10,000 feet. Surface winds looked reasonable at 7 knots.

This was the evening of the Calgary Balloon Club meeting so I approached Dennis with the particulars of the weather forecast and he agreed that an attempt was in the offing. With the confirmation that Bert would be available the wheels, or should I say, the tanks where put into motion.

Thanks to yours truly the clubs instruments, complete with thermister, where off at Blue Sky Avionics for a complete inspection and calibration. I would need this equipment back, installed and working before I could attempt this flight. Through package tracking I knew that the package was in Canada and on it's way to Calgary so I continued making preparations for the flight with the hope that the instruments would arrive before the Monday launch attempt. Friday came and went with no delivery of the instruments. There would be no Monday attempt due to a lack of instruments and the ever critical temperature sensor. This flight would involve flying at high altitude loaded close to the Maximum Takeoff Mass of the 77,500 cubic foot O model Cameron balloon. I needed to have an accurate measurement of the temperature in the top of the balloon to ensure that I wasn't over heating the envelope. As luck would have it the upper level winds looked better on Tuesday so we planned for an early morning launch Tuesday if the instruments arrived on Monday.

Through the weekend the weather conditions stayed consistent. I would use this time to prepare and check the equipment that I would take on board:

• Deka 12v ETX AGM battery
• Garmin eTrex Vista
• Motorola 7100 GMRS Radio
• ICOM A5 Aircraft Radio
• Mode A Transponder
• HP iPaq 2210
• Cell Phone

All of this equipment would need to be charged and checked before starting out on Tuesday morning.

Monday morning the call came from Keith's shop that the instruments and temperature sensor had arrived from Blue Sky Avionics. I immediately called Dennis and pleaded for help in collecting the four 60 liter tanks from Keith's baskets. Keith had once again graciously offered his 60 liter tanks for the cause and when full of propane these tanks weighed over 100 pounds each. I rushed down to Rainbow Balloons to begin the task of installing the sensor and bolting the Ball 655 instruments into the basket. Once Dennis arrived at the shop we unloaded the clubs basket and envelope off the trailer and manhandled the tanks out of Keith’s baskets onto the shop floor. This was the job I dreaded most. Once the temperature sensor was installed I began the task of removing the Worthington’s from the clubs basket and installing the 60 liter stainless steel tanks that would allow the extended flight. The 60 liter tanks fit perfectly into the corners of the basket with just enough room to friction fit two Worthington’s into the middle of the basket. Now if you would like to try this at home be aware that when you’re done, on either side of the basket, you'll have a space about 30cm by 50 cm to stand in. Sitting on a tank is your only option for any kind of comfort. It took three of us to tip the basket up so it could be loaded onto the club trailer all the time the basket groaning under it's tremendous load.

The forecast indicated that the upper level winds would be out of the northwest or 330 degrees at about 35 knots for most of the day. We knew that we would be heading north for the launch so I had picked Ponoka Airport as the initial launch spot days earlier. This location would allow 9,000 feet of altitude before having to deal with Edmonton International class C airspace. I had a transponder but it wasn't altitude encoding so I didn't want to be in class C airspace at all. This location would also give me lots of distance before I would have to deal with the US border or the Suffield Range, or so I thought!

Earlier we had decided that a 5AM start would give us enough time to travel north, find a launch spot and get airborne before sunrise at 7:17 AM. During the drive out Dennis checked conditions with the weather briefer in Edmonton and things where looking good at the higher altitudes but in Red Deer, on the surface, the winds where fairly brisk. Probably 5 to 8 knots. I could see it now. All this preparation for not and worst of all, these tanks would have to go back into Keith's baskets without even having served their purpose!

Upon arriving at the airport the winds had calmed to the point where we would have difficulty deciding which direction to layout. Dead calm! Must be my clean living! The airport had a large service building with an even larger plowed parking lot. The sign on the building had a phone number so we called and acquired permission to launch from their property.

The process of getting the balloon into the sky would involve a few extra steps like pressurizing the 60 liter tanks with nitrogen and using an inflation tank to get the balloon standing. All the electronic equipment would need to be checked and double checked. This would take almost as long as inflating the balloon and could only be done once the balloon was standing. While checking the burner system we uncovered a leaky pilot light hose connection and ended up switching the pilot tank at the last minute. In addition to this problem, one of the 60 liter tanks would not make a complete seal with one of the hoses on the clubs burner. This was the same problem I had last year during my duration flight. We decided to simply move this hose to a different tank and hope that the heat of the sun would be enough to rectify the problem.

The actual launch went smooth and this time there was no awful sound of uprights snapping as the envelope came up. This is what happened last time I inflated with this kind of fuel load. What a relief! Coordinates and time of the launch where recorded by both Dennis and myself and off I went.

I immediately began a steady 500 ft/min climb out to 6,000 feet and stabilized to get an accurate reading of envelope temperature, speed and direction. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't over heating the balloon and that I was at or above my target speed of 35 knots. I had calculated that I had enough fuel for a six hour flight and if I maintained an average speed of 35 knots I could fly for more than 300 km. At 6,000 feet the balloon was reading 73 degrees C, well below the 100 degrees C maximum and I was clipping along at 38 knots with a heading of 130 degrees M. Even better than I had hoped for! If this kept up I wouldn't need to climb up to 9,000+ feet and waste all that fuel. I would estimate that the temperature at this cruise altitude was about minus 5C as the liquid in my drink bottle was slowly freezing. With the direct low angle sun hitting me I was quite comfortable in the basket and proceeded to settle in for the long haul. All the electronic equipment was functioning perfectly and all of the balloon system was intact and working. The ambient temperature was high enough that I could keep the GPS, PDA and radio outside of the heated battery bag where they were easily accessible. Unlike my last long flight this time I had remembered to bring my food. This time I'd be able to keep my energy up and not have to worry about getting stupid near the end of the flight.

It was a beautiful day with the sun reflecting off the recent snowfall. We had taken off just after sunrise so I missed watching the sunrise as I climbed out. This is always a very cool way to start a flight. The town of Ponoka was quickly a dot on the countryside and I could already see the Red Deer River valley, my constant companion for this flight. I would end up crossing this river seven times and come very close on two other occasions. The town of Alix was first on the agenda. Home of club member Gary Fehr. I think I spotted him snug as a bug as I cruised on by. Next built up area on the trip would be Drumheller. I've flown this area quite a bit and I should know it from the air but I needed help from Dennis and Bert before I could determine that it had just passed to my right. Probably too busy dealing with my leaking tank. The next part of the flight would be a simple "keep it at 6,500 feet" exercise with not much passing under me.

Back to "The Block" I mentioned earlier. CFB Suffield is a major military installment in the southeastern corner of Alberta just north of Medicine Hat. Suffield has a very active artillery range and a not so active chemical weapons storage/experimentation facility. Yes it's CYA and a definite DNL. During certain times of the year and with the proper permission you are allowed to over fly the base. To give you a little appreciation of its size CFB Suffield is 2690 square kilometers. It has North Americas largest adjoining prairie grassland and its off limits to us balloon types. The locals affectionately refer to the base as "The Block".

Four hours into the flight I started to wonder how close I was getting to Suffield. I tried to contact the crew but all I could hear was a garbled message with the words "Suffield" and "close". I dropped down to reduce speed and try to determine my actual position in relation to Suffield. Out came the VFR map. Trying to determine my position relative to the coulees in the river was futile. My PDA didn't have the proper maps loaded and my GPS only showed the major roads. I could see that the river flowed north of Suffield so if I could stay down in the valley and stay north of the fence I'd be OK. A major jog north in the river and the need to change a tank at the same time meant I was out of the valley and heading back towards Suffield. This all occurred over Dinosaur Provincial Park. Quite a site from the air with all the tightly packed hills and valleys. Not a place you would like to recover a balloon from. It was about this time that I first checked my great circle distance. 220km. Still not enough distance and I had no idea where the base was. I decided to set the GPS back to Trip Computer and just fly the balloon. I would simply watch for the big fence and be ready to land.

I would later discover that the low level flight actually directed me more towards the base than away from the base. If I had stayed at 6,500 feet and stayed on my original track I would have just missed the southwestern corner of the base. It remains to be seen if I would have risked the whole attempt by flying over the base without permission. I didn't have the phone number for Base Operations and I didn't have prior permission so a slight change in wind direction would have made the entire effort for not. What if, what if!

While all this was going through my head I decided to check my distance again. 262km! I had broken the existing 254km record and I had a full 60-liter tank and most of one low-pressure 40-liter tank left to go. Now to see if I could make this flight a hard one to beat.

It was about this time that I regained contact with the crew and they indicated that I was really close to the base. I had spotted a busy highway to the south of my position and located it on the map so I knew I would have to cross that highway before I was in jeopardy of landing on the Suffield property. The crew indicated that I only had another 3 km before the fence so I decided to land close to the highway I was about to cross. I stowed the gear and brought the balloon down close to the surface. No power lines, no cattle and even a road up ahead. A quick glance at the GPS showed I was clipping along at 12 knots with the scoop facing completely the wrong direction. This was going to be a long drag and I was stuck in the downwind side of the basket. "Keep your hands and feet inside the basket at all times" I muttered to myself. I slowly brought the balloon down and with one hand switching the pilot light off and the other hand on the red line I contacted the ground. Out came the top but with the scoop faced the wrong way the mouth just closed up. I held on to the upright with all my might as the ground went whizzing past just inches from my nose. I usually get myself into a position where my passengers get this thrill while I land the balloon so this was a little foreign for me. It was about this time that I saw my kit bag that was hanging off the upright inside the basket, get sucked under the basket. "This can't be good." I thought. Luckily I had decided to leave the GPS and PDA on the upright for the landing. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught something else making it's way to freedom. "If I survive I'll go back and get it" passed through my head. Finally everything stopped and all that could be heard was the wind rushing past the basket. Wait a minute, no bounce, no "big hand" slamming me to the ground? This would turn out to be one of my better landings! Wish I had video of this one, they'll never believe me at the next club meeting.

Contacting Bert on the radio indicated that they were already at the landowners’ house. In fact they where in the living room watching my landing on videotape. "Notice how I had that pilot light out, Dennis?" A short while later the troops arrived, the crew that is, and the balloon was packed away. Much lighter than the last time we loaded it I might add. We shared the champagne with the landowners, told a few BS (balloon stories) and headed back to Calgary with the AX-7 Distance Record in the bag!

Post flight analysis of the GPS data and the 60 liters of fuel remaining shows that with my average fuel consumption rate of .75 liters/min I could have flown for another 80 minutes. Extrapolating this out at my average speed of 28.96 knots (53.63 kph) means that I could have easily flown an additional 71.5 kms. A 350 km flight is achievable with the setup I had and the proper weather conditions. I'm anxious to try this flight again next season...stay tuned!

Here are the stats for the flight...

See Yah

Steve Raffaele

Calgary Balloon Club