Re: [balloon-makers] New to the list

[Donald L Piccard <private e-mail address>]

I forgot that you were there.  Thanks for remembering.

The safest way to fly:

Eight separate polyethylene bags, each half full of helium.  Plenty of
sand.  Quiet night.  Absolute cooperation from FAA, ATC and the Sioux
City tower.

Sitting in a Raven S-40 seat at three foot altitude, completely
motionless.  One extended hand, palm up with a mound of sand.  His hand
rolls over, the sand drops to the football field grass and lo, he rises
slowly, but positively and inevitably accelerating.  Then he is up, up
and away in the night sky, brightly illuminated by ground search lights.

"Sioux City Tower, Balloon N2C, aloft".  "N2C, Sioux City Tower, We see
you. You are beautiful.   But we don't see your navigation lights."  
"Sioux City Tower, N2C, See em now?"

The only possible hazard would be for the seat itself to meet power lines
on landing.  Or a powered craft to collide, but with my FAA guardian
angel looking over me that is no fear.

If the 3/4 mil polyethylene has any flaw, who cares. It can be
compensated for easily.  In fact, my first such craft had a seam failure
in flight, but I knew, One, that Q.C. on this set would preclude that and
Two, when that had happened, with a commercially sealed bag, it was no
problem to compensate.

The target altitude would be comfortable with oxygen, but not overly
hazardous without in case of supply failure.

Yes, the only way to fly.

On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 15:44:08 -0600 Greg_Winker@Dell.com writes:
> Drat, uncovered on the first day.  Thanks for the kind words Don.   
> 
> In fact, Don was part of my first memory from ballooning, so let me 
> use this
> opportunity to share a bit of history.
> 
> It was a dark and stormy night.....    OK, OK, it wasn't stormy, but 
> the
> night was dark.  
> 
> It was the evening of August 24, 1962 and we were in Sioux City, 
> Iowa.  I
> was all of four years old and was bundled up in a blanket sitting on 
> the
> tailgate of a Raven pickup truck.  Dad was crewing for Don (again).  
> Off in
> the distance, illuminated by spotlights, Don was sitting underneath 
> a
> cluster of small helium balloons, preparing to ascend into the night 
> sky.
> When the flight was over, Don had set a new AA-2 altitude record 
> that still
> stands to this day - 17,747 feet.  I don't remember any more details 
> on the
> flight - hey, I was only 4.  Maybe Don could fill in some of the 
> blanks.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donald L Piccard [mailto:balloon@juno.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 1:30 PM
> To: balloon-makers@mail.deering.org
> Cc: balloon-makers@deering.org
> Subject: Re: [balloon-makers] New to the list
> 
> 
> Greg is  a little modest.  He actually goes back a little farther 
> than
> that.  In fact, you will see his dad in an upcoming Smithsonian Air 
> &
> Space magazine serving on the crew of the 1947 Fugo manned flight.  
> Greg
> has literally been brought up concurrent with the developement of 
> the
> "Modern Hot Air Balloon".
> 
> On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 10:45:52 -0600 Greg_Winker@Dell.com writes:
> > > Greetings from central Texas.  I thought I would take a moment 
> to
> > > introduce myself to everybody.  I'm a long-time hot-air pilot, 
> > having been
> > > certified in Jan. of 1975.  Over the years, I have owned four 
> hot 
> > air
> > > balloons, three of which were experimental.  But even before all 
> 
> > that, I
> > > built a double walled AX-2 that Donna Wiederkehr used to set the 
> 
> > world
> > > records for duration and distance.  In addition, I've built two 
> 
> > other
> > > envelopes and substantially rebuilt two more.  
> > > 
> > > I'm now shifting my focus to gas ballooning and recently 
> purchased 
> > a
> > > partially built BC Corp. bag (that a Tim Cole kit) and am 
> building 
> > a
> > > basket to go along with it.  Fellow Austenite Phillip MacNutt 
> and 
> > I are
> > > jointly working on this.  You can follow our basket making 
> project 
> > here:
> > > 
> > > http://www.jump.net/~macnutt/gasbasket.html
> > > 
> > > This is the first homebuilding project I've done in many years 
> and 
> > I have
> > > to say I'm having a blast.  I'm actually sorry to see the basket 
> 
> > nearly
> > > finished as there will be nothing left to work on.  As I look 
> > forward to
> > > where ballooning will take me, I see that it will mostly 
> involve
> > > experimental systems, parts of which I'll be building myself.
> > > 
> > > Thanks to Tom for setting up a forum for us to ask questions and 
> 
> > give
> > > answers.  I look forward to being a regular contributor of 
> both.
> > > 
> > > Greg Winker
> > > 
> > -------
> > Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to 
> > unsubscribe
> > 
> 
> 
> Don Piccard, Balloon@Juno.Com,
> 1445 East River Parkway
> Minneapolis, MN 55414-3625
> http://balloon.freeyellow.com/Homepage.html  
> www.thepiccardsociety.com
> 612/333-6912
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> Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to 
> unsubscribe
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> 


Don Piccard, Balloon@Juno.Com,
1445 East River Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55414-3625
http://balloon.freeyellow.com/Homepage.html  www.thepiccardsociety.com
612/333-6912
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Balloon-makers mailing list: use "imailsrv@deering.org" to unsubscribe