2019 marks the return of the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race to the ABIF. The race was last held in 2017, the winning balloon was from Switzerland and was aloft for 59.32 hours covering 2275.87 miles. This is the current record for distance, I remembered they landed northwest of Labrador City, Labrador/Newfoundland province, Canada.
This is a distance race involving gas filled balloons. They launch at the AIBF and fly as far as they can. In the past these balloons have gone as far as the eastern provinces of Canada.
The lifting gas used is hydrogen and is provided by AIBF. All flights must follow Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and the Balloons can not ascend higher 18,000’ MSL. There are many rules and requirements which are strictly enforced.
The Launch Window for this event starts on October 5, 2019 at 1800, with inflation at 1400hrs. But they did not launch till 10/7 between 8-9:00pm.
Simply, these balloons rise as ballast is released (usually sand) and descend as gas is released. There are many other factors which will influence their flight i.e. ambient temperature, winds aloft, etc. The pilots lose on average 10 pounds before the event to lighten their load.
If you are interested in following the progress of this event, you can go to this link - https://balloonfiesta.com/Americas-Challenge-Live.
https://balloonfiesta.com/Americas-Challenge-Live.
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