WAIT FOR THE WIND
“Larry Newman has everything he needs to pilot his hot air balloon, Earthwinds, around the world. He has experience: In 1978, he navigated the Atlantic ocean, and in 1981, the Pacific; the first time either had been conquered in a balloon. He has a good crew: an engineer and a former Soviet cosmonaut. He has the best of equipment: Earthwinds boasts a sophisticated design featuring not one but two balloons, located above and below the football shaped gondola, allowing for better control. Larry Newman has everything… except a good breeze. The Earthwinds can achieve flight only when the surface air sits in a dead calm while a northeasterly wind whips at least 75 miles per hour at the cruising altitude of 32,000 feet. So far that has not happened and until it does, the Earthwinds hunkers on the earth waiting for the winds. That fascinates me; three trained experts with the best of modern technology, and they sit as helpless…
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