Cross your fingers

[tater]

My neighbor is missing.

Damnit.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=11754535

Hope Rich and Carol are found OK.

[Sailor Steve]

Fingers crossed. :sunny:

[Takeda Shingen]

Here's hoping for the best.

[tater]

Day two, and nothing. Looking pretty grim. Ugh.

[The Third Man]

My understanding was that the missing baloon was hydrogen filled. You know where that is going.


try to see who can fly the farthest from a set point on a maximum of about 1,000 cubic meters (35,300 cubic feet) of gas.

[tater]

Yeah, H2.

if it ruptured during the storm at alt... OTOH, the ELT never went off, which is odd. Rich is pretty calm, you'd think if it got really ugly he'd try to put it down (they have survival suits, a raft, etc). This makes me sick. Saw his truck in the driveway earlier, made me sad. (he likes doing this stuff, but I feel sad for his wife and 2 kids (one goes to school with my daughter in 1st grade)).

[SteamWake]

Sad news sory to hear this I hope they are found.

You will never get me up in a flying thing that you cant steer.

[tater]

Sad news sory to hear this I hope they are found.

You will never get me up in a flying thing that you cant steer.

I've been up, myself, but only over albuquerque (which is dangerous enough). I don't know how actually dangerous gas ballooning is in terms of deaths per seat mile, etc. It might well be safer than driving, but the lack of control is pretty scary.

[The Third Man]

Yeah, H2.

if it ruptured during the storm at alt... OTOH, the ELT never went off, which is odd. Rich is pretty calm, you'd think if it got really ugly he'd try to put it down (they have survival suits, a raft, etc). This makes me sick. Saw his truck in the driveway earlier, made me sad. (he likes doing this stuff, but I feel sad for his wife and 2 kids (one goes to school with my daughter in 1st grade)).

I don't place putting down outside the relm of possibility. I don't know how these challenges are conducted, but were there other balloons in the area? I can't see other balloons getting too far ahead or behind the missing craft. If they go solo, what did the gondola look like? If he put down in a controlled manor the ELT wouldn't engage, and he may not have had time to manually engage the ELT. Any electrical charge could have set off a conflagration, and sink the gondola before any reaction.

[Jimbuna]

Yeah, H2.

if it ruptured during the storm at alt... OTOH, the ELT never went off, which is odd. Rich is pretty calm, you'd think if it got really ugly he'd try to put it down (they have survival suits, a raft, etc). This makes me sick. Saw his truck in the driveway earlier, made me sad. (he likes doing this stuff, but I feel sad for his wife and 2 kids (one goes to school with my daughter in 1st grade)).

Crikey!!....that's so sickening :nope:

Hope there may yet be a positive outcome.

[The Third Man]

Garth Sonnenberg of Albuquerque, a friend of Abruzzo's, said Wednesday that he had heard that the balloonists had problems with their radio throughout the flight. "We're hoping that it's a good possibility that it's just a radio problem," he said.

[tater]

No other balloons nearby, they diverge rather remarkably (winds aloft at different speeds).

2 people aboard, and the gondola is pretty light. Rich's helium gondola is tiny, made of tubular Al and nylon. This one might have been more like a hot air balloon one (wicker).

[tater]

Might be, hence my fingers crossed. That said, being totally incommunicado for so long when they have sat and cell phones... he'd have to know after the storm etc that everyone would worry.

[FIREWALL]

My understanding was that the missing baloon was hydrogen filled. You know where that is going.

Mind showing me anywhere in article where Hydrogen is mentioned.

[tater]

It is indeed an H2 race.

http://www.gordonbennett2010.com/system/files/UK%20Gordon%20Bennett%20Rules%202010%20CIA%20Appro ved_0.pdf

[The Third Man]

Mind showing me anywhere in article where Hydrogen is mentioned.

In respect for the missing I will give you a break, this time. But research beyond the posted arcticle can help you understand the situation in the future.

[tater]

Some of the links might well not mention the gas used (since it is often Helium instead).

Many links have other specifically wrong information as well that I saw. One of the best stories I found was on the BBC.

[Gerald]

Some of the links might well not mention the gas used (since it is often Helium instead).

Many links have other specifically wrong information as well that I saw. One of the best stories I found was on the BBC. information on what happened?

[tater]

No the wrong stuff was background. One story didn't mention that his dad was on Double Eagle (both) and crossed the Atlantic (or that Rich did as well).

This has me really depressed, actually.

[Gerald]

I can imagine, I'm sorry that it currently is just so

[tater]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11451314

Nancy's a tough cookie.

[Schroeder]

Let's hope for the best.:-?

[SteamWake]

Is this related?


Race organizers say missing US balloonists plunged at 50 mph into Adriatic and likely died, EU

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/10/01/race-organizers-say-missing-balloonists-plunged-mph-adriatic-likely-died-eu/

I hope not. :oops:

[tater]

Yeah. Chances they are found (at all, much less alive) is very nearly zero.

I spent the day on a field trip with my daughter's class, and his son was there running around, playing... made me so sad.

[The Third Man]

Sad.


Scuba divers joined in the search efforts Saturday for two American balloonists who went missing in the Adriatic Sea, but searchers said that hope of finding them alive is fading.

[SteamWake]

All I can say is that them being the adverntursome type and evidently fairly well off I hope they planned for such an event and provided for the kids.

[tater]

Carol is older. Rich was just a couple years older than me. His family is very well taken care of—his dad developed our neighborhood in the foothills, as well as the Tram and Ski area here in Albuquerque (also Santa Fe). Financially, they are 100% secure. More than secure.

The Tram has a front-loader, and I always remember Rich giving rides to the kids, or using the darn thing to help neighbors move huge rocks. Really nice family, Rich will be missed.

<S>

[Jimbuna]

This is very sad/tragic :nope:

I'll be thinking of his wife and kids tonight.

[SteamWake]

Carol is older. Rich was just a couple years older than me. His family is very well taken care of—his dad developed our neighborhood in the foothills, as well as the Tram and Ski area here in Albuquerque (also Santa Fe). Financially, they are 100% secure. More than secure.

The Tram has a front-loader, and I always remember Rich giving rides to the kids, or using the darn thing to help neighbors move huge rocks. Really nice family, Rich will be missed.

<S>

Thats very reassuring about the children. Sounds like a great family.

Prayers, that I wish for the best of outcomes from the worst of situations.

ps; you have awsome neighbors

[Takeda Shingen]

This is as difficult as it gets. I am truly saddened.

[GoldenRivet]

I've been following this silently in the background.

sorry for this news. Its a terrible thing :nope:

[tater]

Search has officially ended.

:(

[Dowly]

Sorry to hear that. :-?

[Jimbuna]

That's terrible news :nope:

[krashkart]

Sorry to hear that, tater. Sounds like your neighbors are some real standup folks.

[tater]

I realize that this happens to people all the time, and all too often to our military families. Still, the proximity perhaps makes it hit home more to me personally. Rich and I are about the same age, I'd see him or Nancy or the kids almost every day and say "hi." We do the same "dad" things at 1st grade—except he's way more interesting than I am and is gone several times a year to fly balloons all over the world :) We usually pile the kids in his huge pick up to take them trick or treating each year (houses are spread out here, and there is a few hundred foot alt change on our road alone—tough for the really little dudes).

To him this race would not have seemed terribly dangerous. He did, after all, mimic his father's balloon trip over the Atlantic. The Med would seem like a pond, with all kinds of places to stop if needed.

Seems so pointless given modern meteorology that they'd not have been made aware of the severity of the weather while they were still safely over Italy—they went down so very close to the safety of land.

If it was just him (and Carol—she's a friend of my in-laws, actually, she was a Resident when my father in law was an Attending at BCMC) it would not be so bad, risk is what adventure is all about. It's their sweet kids that make me so sad. Nancy at least understands the risks, she's a balloonist herself, still.

Dunno if the USN is still looking, I presume Nancy must be heading home at some point, though it was not her who dropped their son at school today. My daughter was crying yesterday because she felt sorry for her friend having his daddy lost (not knowing exactly what he knows, we made it less certain since she'll see him at school).

[AVGWarhawk]

That is a shame. Sorry to hear it.