AURORA CHALLENGE

This morning's events truly reflect how ballooning is at the gift of nature, not of the plans of man.

Bad weather has forced Ruth down. A roadside tree won't forget her landing for a while, but Ruth is doing well, with only a few bumps and bruises. She is currently on her way back to Mildura for rest and a debrief with her support team.

Needless to say she is disappointed. The cold front moved in faster than expected, and rather than capitalising on the fast winds preceeding it, Ruth and her beautiful balloon, Aurora, were overtaken and forced down. Nature has it's own way of letting everyone know who's the boss!! World records aren't records because they are easy to achieve!!

We're all proud of Ruth for her achievement regardless. Her spirit to do, achieve, and try what most never dream about is truly remarkable.

Speedy recovery Ruth, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Penny.

CONGRATULATIONS RUTH!

Ruth successfully launched Aurora at 1.10am this morning.

The launch went very smoothly. The weather was calm, skies were clear and the moon was just setting on the horizon. Aurora glowed on the launch site as Ruth did her final flight checks, final safety checks and final crew checks before giving the "hands off" announcement to the launch crew.

As Aurora sailed up into the night sky, Ruth deftly guided her gently through the inky darkness. The small crowd on the launch site watched as Aurora's glow flickered with every burner blast during it's ascent. High altitude is where the high winds are - and this is what Ruth will be chasing.

Ruth's chase teams have now set off to follow and anticipate the balloons direction. Their goal is to be right beside her when she lands.
Mick and Margaret Toller are supporting her in the air by fixed wing aircraft.
Susan and Mike Kelaher are in one chase vehicle;
Dennis and Margaret Collins are in another.
Mark and Grant Wilson are in the third chase car
and Ian Macdonald will be shortly setting off from Canberra to assist in a forth.

With this fantastic support, enhanced by Ruths control centre in Canberra and meteorological updates, at least one chase vehicle should be there when she lands .... the question is: which one!!?

More news at breakfast-time.
Penny

Weather conditions are still looking great for a launch in the next few hours. Ground conditions are calm, the sky is clear.

Launch time in Waikerie S.A. is still set for 1am eastern standard time - 12.30am local S.A. time.

It is estimated that Ruth's progress will be approximately 50kms an hour. Her direction will generally be north easterly, but may veer further north towards Cowra or Orange, or a little further south towards Yass. But balloons being as they are, ie at the mercy of the wind, it is impossible to say where she may be at any given time.

Today the crew finalised the configuration of the basket where Ruth will spend 12 hours or more. Ruth will be taking 12 tanks in total - 5 inside the basket and 7 strapped outside on the burner frame. Total gas capacity is 730 litres of LPG kindly supported by Elgas. These tanks have been pressurised with Nitrogen to maximise capacity.

Each square cm of space in the basket has been planned to ensure Ruth has everything she may need to survive the length and height of the flight. As she anticipates flying up to 12,000 feet, oxygen is tucked into one corner.

Insulation for batteries and drinks are tucked into another corner - temperatures could reach as low as -10 degrees Celsius. To endure these low temperatures Ruth will be rugged up with layers of thermal and arctic weather gear.

Communications equipment has been carefully packed into another corner - VHF & UHF radio communications, a satellite phone, mobile phone, various cameras, a transponder for communicating in controlled air space, and a barograph flight recorder are amongst some of the specialised equipment Ruth will need.

Food storage and a mini stool have also been incorporated into the basket configuration to give Ruth the chance to rest and her legs and restore her energy. Phil Kavanagh has built a extension burner control system to give Ruths arm respite - holding your arm above your head to control the burners would get a little tiring after a while!! Ruth also has a harness to keep her in the basket in case of a fast or rough landing.

The team is now trying to catch some sleep before final briefing and launch. Only a few hours to go!!
Penny.

A weather check today confirmed good conditions for a launch early tomorrow morning. Ruth has given the "thumbs up" the flight, conditional on an additional weather check this evening.

Plans at this stage will see Ruth launch at approx 1AM TOMORROW (Monday) morning, rather than 3 or 4am as originally planned.

This earlier than expect launch time will enable Ruth to extend her flight time if needed to exceed the 737km distance record. If winds fail to reach the 50km+ per hour, the early launch will give Ruth a few more hours up her sleeve before a sunset landing on Monday afternoon. Her challenge will then be fuel consumption to extend her flight those few hours!

An early launch may also provide Ruth with an alternate challenge - if the winds are fast up high she may need to land early on Monday afternoon. For balloonists, this time of the day means you may have to deal with thermal air currents up from the warm earth, making landing much more difficult.

More news this evening ......
Penny.

Ruth and her team have gathered together this evening in Mildura to discusss weather, wind and an optimum departure time. Winds are looking good up high, however there is concern that the current weather pattern will stabilise and not provide a high enough wind speed to sustain the flight.
Further evaluation and discussion will follow tomorrow.

All the Aurora team arrived in Mildura last night...the other members of the team are busy studying the met forecasts. I am holding to my belief I will get what I want on Monday...my whole flight really relies on being given the right weather pattern to do the flight.

This morning refuelled 13 tanks, checked heaps of emails wishing the flight well which is so wonderful, put the transponder, radios, satellite phones all on charge...I should have bought share in a battery company.

Or one of them should sponsor my balloon!!

Penny York will keep my blog updated from now on.... my attention must now be on my flying.

Next time I come on line, I trust it will be to tell you I have had the most amazing balloon flight of my 30 odd years of flying and all is safe.

Ruth

I was interviewed by Andrew Denton on Enough Rope on Monday (July 24) - he is certainly a gifted interviewer - and I did appreciate his approach to my story and my world record balloon flight.
There has been other radio and print interviews around the country as well - my web site and email has been flooded with stories of depression and suicide.

One of the emails that touched me strongly was from Western Australia alerting me to an organisation called ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and the work they do as a volunteer group. While the email was personal, I believe some of the facts in that email need to be heard -

Studies have shown that the Suicide rate of Korean and Vietnam veterans is higher than the community norm and the Australian Defence Forces. The children of Vietnam Veterans suicide rate is THREE TIMES the norm. The Male suicide rate is incredibly higher than for Females.

ABS reports that for every 100,000 people, 10 are killed by Motor Vehicle accidents and 13 commit suicide.AT LEAST 20 PEOPLE ARE IMMEDIATELY AFFECTED BY THE ACT OF SUICIDE.

I will spend more time looking at what the wonderful people involved with ASIST are doing after my flight is completed.

It seems to me there is so much each of us could do if we knew more about 'who needs our time and enery and how can we get involved?"

The support and exposure of such stories by the media is one way to get all the messages out - positive MEDIA........THANK YOU!

Since I have announced my attempt at a record balloon flight, many people have asked "what about Steve Fossett's flight? Didn't he get the record?"

True - but the records I am chasing are in a much smaller and very different balloon. The balloon Steve flew around the world was a combination of a hot air balloon inside a huge helium balloon that was built for long distance flying. My balloon is tiny and with normal operations would be in the air for up to 2 hours maximum. I need to be in the air for 14 hours to cover the record distance.

It is like comparing an adventurer going off in a 747 aircraft to an adventurer going off in an open cockpit Tiger Moth.

It oculd be that the need for the spirit of adventure remains similar for both pilots but records are set in various sizes. All offer huge challenges or they would not be world records.

The logistics, the team work, the commitment to a huge goal all offer a certain stimulation and the chase for "doing something well". And put that together with a strong emotional motivation to help others and life feels fantastic.

Please follow the lead up planning, the reactions of others and my eventual flight. And I would love to hear from you too.

Thanks for sharing!

I have set up the TRUST as a way to raise funds to use to fight male depression. I have done this in honour of my brother Ron Lawson. Setting up the Trust has taken many months as I had to get DGR status from the Australian Taxation Office. This has been done so that any donations would be tax deductible.

I then had to seek an approval to fundraise from the Department of Gaming which was done in New South Wales. As each state has different criteria, I was then told to apply state by state to fundraise. I may do that after the flight but for now, I can only call for donations in New South Wales.

MOre on the Trust after my flight.

I am hopeful that my actions taken to go for a world ballooning record and start a trust fund will help to open increased public dialogue on male depression and that together we can find a way to get the message into society "that it is acceptable for a man to ask for help" and to our men "that there is no stigma admitting to 'not coping' in their life".

Meanwhile, I am preparing to rise into the blue beyond and pray that the skies are blue on the day of my long record breaking flight!

I had my first balloon flight in New Zealand while on a magazine assignment in 1975. Within a matter of a few months I had my first balloon and have been actively flying my own balloons ever since. My journeys by balloon have taken me over many different countries; over the Swiss and Austrian Alps at different times; over parts of the ocean and the deserts of New Mexico just to name a few. Bitten by the competitive bug after I won the first National Championship in 1979, I went on to represent Australian at 6 world titles and numerous international ballooning rallies. The only thing I had not experienced in my ballooning world was going for a world record. So 6 months ago I decided it was time. But more importantly, I wanted my flight to make a difference for others.

I had concurrently shared my darling brother's journey with depression, which in reality I never really understood or appreciated the depth of his pain. After he returned from Vietnam he was a different brother from the one I waved off to fight for his country. I was always there to listen when Ron called. It took his desperate act of ending his life by hanging to impact on me how deep his personal struggle must have been.

When I heard that beyondblue were launching a telephone service and planning a campaign to assist men with depression and particularly men in rural areas, I finally recognised that I could use my flight to raise awareness of the new info line phone number 1300 22 46 36.

July 28 my team and I meet in Mildura, Victoria to set up our operations centre. We will prepare the balloon for flight and by Monday July 31st I will be ready to lift off. To achieve the 750 kms for the world record, I will need to launch from 200kms west or south of Mildura. A launch from Mildura would take me into the mountains for a last light landing. Not really suitable or sensible. So my chosen launch sites are Waikerie or Pinnaroo in South Australia or Birdchip in Victoria.

The flight's meteorologist, Don Whitford, will be looking at weather models and be able to give me 72 hours notice that the pattern I need is on its way. If the winds are mostly westerly, I will launch from Waikerie....southwesterly it will be from Pinnaroo....from the due south then I will go from Birdchip. A southerly launch from Waikerie would take the balloon into the Simpson Desert for retrieve with little access. I do not need to stress my chase teams who will be chasing the balloon to my final landing.

More next week on the Trust I have set up to raise funds for male depression.

I can be contacted through email on the link page of my web site.

On behalf of the AURORA Hot Air Balloon World Record Flight team, I acknowledge the support of the following companies with assistance with equipment, legal advice, and support for the project. Thank you.

To Date:
Write Away PR Company, Sydney
MBP Legal, McCrohon Bergseng Partners, Sydney
Kavanagh Balloons, Sydney
Dawn Drifters Ballooning, Canberra
Picture This Ballooning, Melbourne
ELGAS
Balloon Aloft, Canberra
Borgelt Instruments, Toowoomba
Dominic Lorenz, Canberra - Website
Balloon Joy Flights - Canowindra

My flight will be conducted in a 105,000 cubic foot balloon which normally lifts 5 to 6 passengers. Normal flights would last between 1 and 2 hours but I will need to fly 12 to 14 hours to reach the record.

Type of records I am seeking are:

World Feminine Distance Record Currently stands at 736.79km since 1994. I am going for 750kms.
Success gives me the record for the 8 cateogries of balloon sizes - AX8, AX9, AX10, AX11, AX!2, AX13, AX14, AX15.

Australian Absolute Distance Currently stands at 354.87km. I will endeavour to surpass that by as much as I can manage.
Australian Absolute Duration Currently stands at 8hrs 24 mins. Again, I will fly as long as I can manage.
Australian Feminine Altitude Currently stands at 9670 feet set by Amanda Galbraith. I expect to fly up to 12,000 feet to get the faster winds so will try for this record also.

My goal is to finish with 8 World and 3 Australian records.

Record flying requires much planning and attention to detail and I have been working on every aspect of the flight with my core team flying members now for many months.

This will be a team effort. To know I have professional, dedicated friends chasing my flight to my final landing and the records is a privilege.