Flying High, Fast & Far in a Wingsuit July 15 - 23

BLOG HAS MOVED BACK TO BASECLIMB

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 10:25:00 +1000

Our Blog is now back at its usual address - accessible via the Baseclimb website - http://www.baseclimb.com.

Thanks to everyone who followed the Furthest Flight expedition.

A feature article on the project will appear in Australian Geographic soon.

Hopefully we’ll see you back here again in June 2009 when we will be back fitter, stronger and better for another go.

We’ll continue to live our dreams and our philosophy will always be NEVER GIVE UP.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:10:07 +1000

We’re all done for Furthest Flight 2008.

The team scattered to the winds after Thursday’s high altitude flight - Andrew had to rush back to his home in Albury for his sister Fiona’s wedding, Greg back to Temora, Graeme to New Zealand, Terry to Adelaide, Sean to Sydney and John and Kristy to Canberra.

Glenn and I are on the endless road between Alice Springs and Port Augusta and then on to Culcairn where we’ll try to make Fiona and John’s wedding.

There is limited mobile reception here, just short passages that pass almost instantly at 130km/hr so this will be brief.

We are waiting on confirmation of altitudes, but I can say the world looks spectacular from an open balloon basket at 39,000ft.

And of course our confidentiality agreement with 60 Minutes prevents us from revealing what happened on the big flight and jump so everyone will need to tune into 60 Minutes next Sunday night to see. I can promise you we had a dramatic experience and got amazing footage to show it.

One of the best things for us was the strength and inspiration of our team. Every single person contributed in a myriad of ways to make the project happen. They were all amazing and we can’t thank them enough for their tireless work (all voluntary). More on this later.

Back to the endless road for Glenn and I. We still have 2500km ahead of us and no more Battlestar Galactica and no Graeme to make it go faster.

Jumping over the Desert

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:18:41 +1000

We’ve had a long but successful day jumping over the desert. Got some great shots and we’re all totally ready for the big flight tomorrow. Which is now just a few hours away, so we need to go to bed pronto.

We set out at 3.30am to launch the balloon and it should all be done by 9am. Fingers crossed the forecast is right and everything we need comes together perfectly.

We’ve sure done the work. The team has been amazing.

Waiting for the Wind

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:13:19 +1000

We’re still waiting for the weather.

Today it was too windy on the ground to launch the balloon so we are back in Uluru trying to organise a jump plane so we can do some filming flights near Ayres Rock. This is not proving to be an easy process, least of all trying to find a plane with a pilot willing to fly us.

Ashley and Lindy from Curtin Springs Station where we’re currently camped threw themselves into the challenge. Ashley summed up the magnitude of the challenge succinctly when he said to Glenn “I’ve worn me f***n fingers to the f**n bone trying to find a f***n pilot crazy enough to fly ya. I got on to me cousin who’se as mad as a f***n meat axe like youse guys - he might fly ya.”

Everyone’s is well and in high spirits and we’re hoping for a high altitude balloon flight tomorrow.

Waiting for the Weather

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:14:00 +1000

We’re in Curtin Springs, a remote outpost on the road to Uluru. There is no mobile or wireless connection here so we’ve driven up the road an hour and a half to get a signal.

We’re waiting for the right weather conditions to make the jump. The prediction is for our 25,000ft jump to take place tomorrow (Tuesday) and the big jump on Thursday.

In the meantime we did a lovely jump from a plane piloted by Chris Brand (pictured right). He did a great job of flying and us and we especially appreciated him flying at daybreak so we could catch the sunrise light (worth it for the fabulous photos taken by Greg shown above).

The team is in good spirits and all the gear is working well so we’re keen to go. As with all our expeditions, we just have to wait for the weather.

Day Four - Final Refinements

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:08:33 +1000

The weather in Alice was too windy to jump today so Glenn, Graeme and I headed out early to photograph the sunrise.

When we came back we made final adjustments to our oxygen gear, charged everything that could be charged and then met up with Roxanne, Kristy, Jaye and James from PKL.

PKL is a sponsor of Furthest Flight and the team were here to help out and cheer us on. They’re staying until Monday so fingers crossed we’ll do our 25,000ft jump then and they’ll be part of the action.

We had a lovely lunch at John and Jane Samby’s house in Alice. John owns Outback Ballooning in Alice and he and John Wallington also own a ballooning operation in China. Glenn and I now have a balloon flight and jump in China on our list of things to do.

We topped the day with a hike behind John and Jane’s to watch the sunset. Graeme got some lovely shots.

Tomorrow we’re going for a sunrise jump from a plane and then heading out to Curtin Springs Station to prep for the 25,000ft the day after.

Day Three - First Balloon Jumps

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:55:56 +1000

We had a huge day today - up at 4am to move the mountain of gear we need for every jump into the Landcruiser and on to the Balloon launch location.

It’s hard to conceive just how much stuff is required to make this sort of high altitude jump safely. The logistics coordination that goes on behind the scenes is mind blowing.

Gearing up predawn for a full dress rehearsal flight and jump I was reminded yet again of the huge effort, skill and experience backing the high altitude flights and how awesome people can be when they’re inspired. We certainly saw that in full momentum yesterday.

John and Sean launched the balloon from the same location as two of Outback Ballooning’s tourist flights so we had the privilege of seeing three balloons inflated and ready to go, just as the sun began to crest the horizon.

Greg, Glenn and I took longer than in previous rehearsals to gear up. I think there were some nerves in the equation and it was also difficult to see well in the low light.

Around my waist I had a big VHF radio and a pulse demand regulator that feeds the oxygen from the bailout bottle on the side of my rig to my oxygen mask. The mask goes under the helmet and the tongue switch that fires the stills camera on my head goes under that which is awkward. The camera helmet and goggles goes on over that. Once it was all on and with my wingsuit zipped closed I felt like an astronaut (or at least how I imagine an astronaut feels), distanced from reality with an altered perception of the world. Wrapped up in all that stuff I was worried I wouldn’t be able to fly properly much less film and take photos.

As the balloon lifted off, I forgot all that. I love flying in hot air balloons. To me they are the ultimate jump aircraft. Peaceful, surreal almost, and quick. We were at jump altitude in less than 8 minutes. Then the arduous process of getting out of the balloon basket and onto the jump platform began.

With Greg, Glenn and I out and switched from the onboard oxygen system to our bailout bottles we were ready to fly.

And fly we did. We had a beautiful flight. It surprised me just how good it was. It was an importance confidence booster and a successful trial run for the big jumps.

Graeme, who was in a plane trying to film and photograph us from the air didn’t have nearly as good a time. The plane could not keep up with the balloon’s ascent rate so they were low when we jumped. He still got some great shots of the balloon in flight.

Terry got great shots on the ground so the photo album is starting to look very impressive.

The weather for the next two days is unfavourable so we anticipate that our next flight will be Monday and hopefully the big jump will be on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we may do some more jumps from a plane before gearing up to leave for Curtain Springs Station.

Day Two - test jumps

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:58:57 +1000

Glenn, Greg and I did a lovely, if cold, jump this morning to both trial our gear and get footage.

Our crew - Andrew (our helicopter pilot), Sean (balloon pilot), Terry (logistics and photography) and Graeme (ground camera) all managed to squeeze into the Landcruiser with the mountain of paraphernalia that we have to haul with us.

Paul Totani our Cesna pilot from CorpAir had the plane waiting for us. Minus the door and co-pilot seat there was plenty of room for the three of us. It was a chilly (and extended) ride to altitude and by 10,000 ft I was keen to get out.

It was tricky having the oxygen mask over the tongue switch that fires the stills camera, but Greg and I managed it OK, although we’ll need to work a solution for the tendency to drool! It was a good jump from a testing point of view and as a result we refined a few things even further.

We’ll do another jump this afternoon, in the nice light just before sunset.

We’ll also do practice drills with the balloon pilots, climbing out of the basket and switching from the onboard oxygen to our bailout systems before a test flight in the balloon tomorrow.

Graeme, Terry, Andrew and Sean did a great job as ground crew and Graeme got some great shots - some of which you see here. More will be posted to the Gallery when we get more than 5 minutes!

We made some last minute adjustments to our wingsuits this afternoon - putting a hole in the front panel for the oxygen tube. We were lucky to have Byron from Outback Ballooning and his industrial sewing machine do a professional job of it.

He’d been busy all day sewing the balloon that is going to take us to 39,000ft so a button hole in a wingsuit was a piece of cake.

We’re all ready now and begin our balloon jumps at dawn tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon we relocate to Curtain Springs station so not sure if the wireless connection will work. If it does, more tomorrow.

Day One - Logistics and Planning - Gear Freak heaven

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:38:32 +1000

We spent the day setting up the mountain of gear we need for the various facets of the high altitude balloon and wingsuit flight.

A full operations meeting with 60 Minutes crew, Outback Ballooning’s crew, our retrieval crew, camera team and wingsuit crew went well into the night, leaving us all feeling tired and ready for bed, especially Sean, our balloon pilot, who hadn’t been to sleep for 36 hours.

The intricacies of co-ordinating a project like this is never fully apparent until you’re in it, and today was no exception. Safety is of premium importance and its no mean feat when you’re tracking a balloon and wingsuit pilots in the desert.

We also had a barrage of inquiries from media interested in the flight. We can talk to radio and print media, but not television as 60 Minutes has an exclusive, and try explaining that to other media.

The team is working together really well. Everyone going beyond what you might expect to make it all work seamlessly. It’s always a inspiring thing being part of an extraordinary team of incredibly skilled and capable people.

Tomorrow we do some test jumps, refine anything that needs it, and then we leave Alice Springs for Curtain Springs Station where we’ll launch the first of our high altitude flights.

In Alice Springs

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:50:36 +1000

Glenn, Graeme Murray and I arrived in Alice Springs just before midnight last night after a 3000 km drive that took us from Sydney through South Australia and finally into the Northern Territory.

It was a marathon drive, spectacular in places, mind numbingly boring in others. When our GPS informed us that our next turn would not be for 1135km we cracked the DVD player and started with Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica. It proved to be a stroke of brilliance bringing 3 seasons of our favourite sci-fi drama and we’ve converted Graeme into yet another BSG addict!

Our fuel bill topped $1200, but the Toyota V8 Landcruiser didn’t miss a beat, unlike other less capable vehicles that cracked under the pressure on the endless stretch between Coober Pedy and Alice Springs.

We had one anxious moment when we crept into Coober Pedy on empty. We had filled the car at the previous fuel stop, but it only just made it with 5 litres to spare.

Graeme and I had fun taking photographs, particularly of a spectacular sunset just past Mildura.

We’re all feeling good and getting stuck into the real business of the challenge which begins today when the rest of our team arrive via more conventional means - on a Qantas jet.