By : Jean-Claude Weber CIA President

Yesterday, November 21st and Montgolfier Day, we were finally rewarded with perfect flying conditions after a long spell of very bad weather. A (very) high pressure system had built up during the previous days, with reasonably calm winds on the ground and enough speed from the right sector at altitude to plan for a long distance flight on the DAY.

Hans KORDEL (pilot, at the burner control) and Reinhold FRECHEN (co-pilot)

Initially we planned for two balloons (one from Germany and one from Luxembourg) but as usual, poor logistics and planning regretfully prevented the Luxembourg balloon to participate in the flight. However, I had the privilege to assist Hans Kordel and his co-pilot Reinhold Frechen, flying the German AX-9 balloon D-OTTS, as official observer.

Take-off was at 07:26:30 GMT from Foehren aerodrome (EDRT) not very far from Trier/Germany into a very blue and very cold (-8?C) blue sky. The plan was to fly as long and far as possible, in order to pay tribute to the Montgolfiers on this day.

Takeoff on Montgolfier Day 1998

The flight was uneventfully grandiose, with a climb over Luxembourg into France up to FL200, a cruise at 60 knots and heading 210?, with no problems and lots of assistance from the French ATC people, to a perfect landing in St. Felix near the Pyrenees (roughly between Carcassonne and Toulouse). Flight time was 8 hours and 14 minutes and distance travelled was 804 km. Celebrations were in order and (being in France) perfectly implemented.

The Balloon

At the time of writing the pilot and retrieve crew are still on their way back home, tired but very happy not to have missed the opportunity to commemorate Montgolfier Day with this memorable flight.

So how did you celebrate Montgolfier Day?