It’s not an easy or exact science to fly with balloons. American men seem to be the best at it, based on the flights of Kent Couch and lawn chair flight pioneer Larry Walters. Click those links for great posts in balloon chair avionics.
The most recent attempt to fly with balloons seems to be ending badly for the pilot, a priest from Brazil. The latest news says his balloons have been found but he has not.
Brazilian priest on balloon voyage goes missing
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 7:16 AM ET | CBC News
A Brazilian priest who rode a bundle of party balloons into the horizon to set a flight record has disappeared.
Rev. Adelir Antonio di Carli took off Sunday from the coastal city of Paranagua in southern Brazil, buoyed by hundreds of helium-filled balloons.
Wearing a helmet, aluminum thermal flight suit, waterproof clothes and a parachute, he was attempting to break the 19-hour record of human flight by party balloons.
Eight hours after takeoff, di Carli was reported missing after he lost contact with authorities.
Rescuers said they have found the balloons floating in the ocean off the coast of southern Brazil but have seen no sign of di Carli, who planned to use money raised from his adventure to finance a “spiritual” rest stop for truckers in Paranagua, which is the country’s primary grain port.
“Given his physical condition and the equipment he was carrying, I would say there is an 80 per cent chance that he is still alive,” fire commander Johnny Coelho told Globo TV.
Coelho said the priest could be floating somewhere in the ocean or may have found refuge at a remote beach or coastal forest. He was carrying enough cereal bars and water to sustain him for five days and had a GPS device, satellite phone and buoyant chair with him, Coelho said.
It was di Carli’s second balloon journey following a successful four-hour voyage from the Brazilian town of Ampere to Argentina in January.
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