Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 8, 2012 #1 Posted October 8, 2012 (edited) Americas Challenge has begun... Track the gas balloons here: http://www.balloonfiesta.com/GasTracking/2012/app_map.html You can click on the balloon icons for info on that particular balloon, and use the minus button on the left to zoom out to state level. Some of these balloons travel thousands of miles.....so pilot skill, luck, and winds aloft determine the winner. There are only 5 balloons in the race this year, due to the worldwide shortage of helium, they are flying on hydrogen. Still, it should be fun to see them, if they fly over your area around sunrise or sunset, they are easy to spot. In years past, some of the balloons have made it into the Great Lakes region, although most only travel into Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. For general info on the event: http://www.balloonfiesta.com/gas-balloons/america-s-challenge The teams are displayed here: http://www.balloonfiesta.com/gas-balloons/america-s-challenge-2012 Request to moderators: Can you make this thread sticky for a day or two? I doubt it will receive enough replies to keep it active...I could be wrong. Thanks. Edited October 8, 2012 by tx2sturgis
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 9, 2012 #3 Posted October 9, 2012 Shameless bump: As of this post, three of the balloons are in Eastern Oklahoma, one is in Central Kansas, and one is in East North Texas. (yes thats a place!) 27 hours or so into the flight, I wonder whose backyard, or farm field, will see a huge gas balloon land in the next 12-48 hours.
Redneck Posted October 9, 2012 #4 Posted October 9, 2012 Cool! We are going to Albuquerque Wednesday to visit family and catch the end of the balloon festival.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 9, 2012 #5 Posted October 9, 2012 One of the balloons has landed north of Kansas City, Mo. The other 4 are still flying in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. http://www.balloonfiesta.com/GasTracking/2012/app_map.html
meach Posted October 9, 2012 #6 Posted October 9, 2012 pretty cool, I see two teams headed south, just in time for the coolest weather we've had this year, the apparent leader headed toward AL, lets see how far they get.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 9, 2012 #7 Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Also, within the hour, they are expecting to launch the Red Bull skydivers capsule from Roswell. http://www.redbullstratos.com/live Update: due to high winds, (3 miles per hour) the launch was scrubbed. They might try tomorrow. Edited October 9, 2012 by tx2sturgis
dacheedah Posted October 9, 2012 #8 Posted October 9, 2012 only one headed toward me has landed, im out
meach Posted October 9, 2012 #9 Posted October 9, 2012 only one headed toward me has landed, im out Got one still going about an hour or so North of me and one still out to the west headed this way.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 9, 2012 #10 Posted October 9, 2012 Got one still going about an hour or so North of me and one still out to the west headed this way. If the balloon gets within 50 miles of you, it should be visible, depending on the altitude, and of course, the position of the balloon with respect to the sun, and assuming clear skies. Look for a bright white dot that seems to just hang motionless in the sky. If the balloon is traveling at a lower level, it will have to be much closer to you to be visible.
dingy Posted October 9, 2012 #11 Posted October 9, 2012 Out of curiosity, why is there a shortage of helium???? Gary
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 9, 2012 #12 Posted October 9, 2012 Out of curiosity, why is there a shortage of helium???? Gary Yeah, its the second most abundant element in the universe, so thats a good question, huh? Turns out the government (BLM) has been selling off the government owned reserves stored near Amarillo, which has around 30% of the worlds supply. Helium is a product of natural gas production, and the Texas Panhandle has a lot of that. The 'intent' was to sell it off so that the private market would pick up the slack, but that hasnt happened. Helium has been so cheap that its been almost free for party balloons and recreational uses, such as gas balloons that are used in these contests. But that's coming to a close. Turns out that helium is quite useful for medical and scientific processes, not to mention the space program. So the remaining supply is getting scarce, and expensive. Hey, you asked!
meach Posted October 10, 2012 #13 Posted October 10, 2012 So the southeast is under a large area of high pressure which means virtually no winds. Team #3 is slowly drifting east at about 20 mph, currently about 120 mi west of Atlanta which means will not be in the area until 6 hours or so from now meaning overnight sometime. Wonder if they will drift north or south of the city, current path appears to be south of the city assuming they keep flying. Will have to see where they are prior to bedtime. The "standing" chart gives their GPS so you can see exactly where they were when update is posted. Team 5 is about 90 mi away going over the N. GA mountains.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #14 Posted October 10, 2012 Team 5 is about 90 mi away going over the N. GA mountains. Its unlikely that the balloons would be visible at night. I have tried to observe them, but its always pilot discretion as to whether they use the strobe beacons. Most of the time they leave them off, to conserve batteries, but also, to alleviate the flash in their own eyes as the atmosphere does reflect some light back to the pilots, depending on conditions. If the balloon enters commercial air traffic lanes, or the pilot is advised to run the strobe, then of course they will. Obviously, if they observe ANY aircraft within their area, they are more likely to activate the beacon. Bottom, line: Most of the time, at night, they are invisible to observers on the ground.
meach Posted October 10, 2012 #15 Posted October 10, 2012 If the balloon enters commercial air traffic lanes, or the pilot is advised to run the strobe, then of course they will. Obviously, if they observe ANY aircraft within their area, they are more likely to activate the beacon. Bottom, line: Most of the time, at night, they are invisible to observers on the ground. Earlier this evening Team 3 went almost directly over Birmingham's airport, if they keep going southeasterly as they have been they'll be well south of Atlanta's. Talk about aircraft traffic, some nights it looks like a highway in the sky with all the planes lined up as far as you can see with their approach lights turned on.
Hummingbird Posted October 10, 2012 #16 Posted October 10, 2012 I scanned the rules of the flight but I couldn't find a time limit - or is there one ?
meach Posted October 10, 2012 #17 Posted October 10, 2012 I scanned the rules of the flight but I couldn't find a time limit - or is there one ? Good question, the ones left are not far from the coast. I would assume they will put down before reaching open water. Big difference in their speeds as of 9:00 this morning, 35,21,11 mph for teams 5,3,2.
Flyinfool Posted October 10, 2012 #18 Posted October 10, 2012 Out of curiosity, why is there a shortage of helium???? Gary Yeah, its the second most abundant element in the universe, so thats a good question, huh? Turns out the government (BLM) has been selling off the government owned reserves stored near Amarillo, which has around 30% of the worlds supply. Helium is a product of natural gas production, and the Texas Panhandle has a lot of that. The 'intent' was to sell it off so that the private market would pick up the slack, but that hasnt happened. Helium has been so cheap that its been almost free for party balloons and recreational uses, such as gas balloons that are used in these contests. But that's coming to a close. Turns out that helium is quite useful for medical and scientific processes, not to mention the space program. So the remaining supply is getting scarce, and expensive. Hey, you asked! I did notice in the rules that they are running event supplied hydrogen, not helium. Anyone got a match.......
LilBeaver Posted October 10, 2012 #19 Posted October 10, 2012 Brian: Thanks for posting this! Very cool! you do have a tendency to post real interesting stuff, keep it up! Out of curiosity, why is there a shortage of helium???? Gary Yeah, its the second most abundant element in the universe, so thats a good question, huh? Turns out the government (BLM) has been selling off the government owned reserves stored near Amarillo, which has around 30% of the worlds supply. Helium is a product of natural gas production, and the Texas Panhandle has a lot of that. The 'intent' was to sell it off so that the private market would pick up the slack, but that hasnt happened. Helium has been so cheap that its been almost free for party balloons and recreational uses, such as gas balloons that are used in these contests. But that's coming to a close. Turns out that helium is quite useful for medical and scientific processes, not to mention the space program. So the remaining supply is getting scarce, and expensive. Hey, you asked! Brian covered this pretty well here -- to clarify a little more it is far more [cost] efficient to recover the helium from the 'mining' process (as mentioned by Tx2Sturgis) BUT there are some places [national labs, mostly] that have liquefiers that DO extract the He from the atmosphere. One of the two particle accelerators that I work at buys their He from Amarillo and trucks it up to Vancouver (where the lab is at), the other one has their own liquefier. Both methods have their pluses and minuses but I'll save the discussion for a different thread. But yes, we nerds do love us some Helium! It is QUITE useful in lots of areas of research. Talk about a COOL topic... (boils at ~4.5K)
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #20 Posted October 10, 2012 I did notice in the rules that they are running event supplied hydrogen, not helium. Anyone got a match....... Now, thats just rude. Actualy I think the event provides a huge discount for the helium or hydrogen, in effect, subsidizing the entry cost. I see there is one balloon still flying..as I write this....
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #21 Posted October 10, 2012 I scanned the rules of the flight but I couldn't find a time limit - or is there one ? There is no time limit enforced by the event...but in reality, it is limited by geography, winds aloft, endurance of the pilots, loss of ballast used in altitude adjustments, and natural and intentional losses of the lifting gas.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #22 Posted October 10, 2012 Brian: Thanks for posting this! Very cool! you do have a tendency to post real interesting stuff, keep it up! Brian covered this pretty well here -- to clarify a little more it is far more [cost] efficient to recover the helium from the 'mining' process (as mentioned by Tx2Sturgis) BUT there are some places [national labs, mostly] that have liquefiers that DO extract the He from the atmosphere. One of the two particle accelerators that I work at buys their He from Amarillo and trucks it up to Vancouver (where the lab is at), the other one has their own liquefier. Both methods have their pluses and minuses but I'll save the discussion for a different thread. But yes, we nerds do love us some Helium! It is QUITE useful in lots of areas of research. Talk about a COOL topic... (boils at ~4.5K) We BOTH forgot to mention the MAIN reason for helium....to make your voice really high pitched for a half a minute or so!
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #23 Posted October 10, 2012 It looks like all 5 balloons are on the ground. According to the standings page, AC5 has travelled the farthest. http://www.balloonfiesta.com/news/217/104/America-s-Challenge-Unofficial-Winners-Mark-Sullivan-and-Cheri-White
Flyinfool Posted October 10, 2012 #24 Posted October 10, 2012 And it looks like the last two pretty much just ran out of land to work with.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 10, 2012 #25 Posted October 10, 2012 The fat lady has sung. Well, I enjoy that sort of thing, and appreciate yall bearing with me. I used to participate in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, its a lot of fun. I was never involved with the gas balloons, but that aspect of ballooning holds some fascination for me. I most likely will never be involved in the sport, other than as a spectator. I did notice the replies and the views perked up when the balloons entered the eastern US...I guess that made it seem more 'local' to more people. Anyway, thanks guys. For anyone just tuning in, here is the tracking map again: http://www.balloonfiesta.com/GasTracking/2012/app_map.html
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