In the space of eight months, three French attempts to write history went up into thin air.
Total Pole Airship Expedition: failed on 21 January 2008
French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne planned to fly over the Arctic in an airship to measure the ice cap amid concern at the pace it is melting. Etienne’s expedition was to begin in April in northern Norway. He would then fly over the magnetic North Pole and land in Alaska in May. On 21 January 2008, the airship broke lose from its anchors at a local airport. It crashed into two cars and a house, then folded over a second house, seriously damaging its roof. The balloon was a write-off, and it looks like the project is halted forever; the website has no recent updates.
Le Grand Saut: failed on 27 May 2008
Michel Fournier [wiki] was scheduled to carry out the Grand Saut (Big Jump) project in May 2008, which would have seen him ascend to 130,000 feet in a balloon and freefall 34km to earth before opening his parachute at 6km to go. The jump was expected to take place over the plains of Saskatchewan, Canada. After several delays due to weather, the attempt was made on 27 May 2008, but the balloon detached from its capsule as it was being inflated and floated away. Fournier is now taking PayPal donations on his website to buy two new balloons.
Pedal-power Channel crossing: failed on 28 September 2008
Stephane Rousson had planned his record-breaking attempt to cross the Channel in a pedal-powered helium-filled airship for five years, and the weather looked great on 28 September 2008. But a few hours after take-off, a shift in the wind left the 39-year-old Frenchman becalmed, hovering 10 metres above the waves in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. However hard he pedalled, he was unable to make progress and was forced to admit defeat. He was forced to deflate his airship and continued to France in his support team’s boat. The project cost him all his money and his girlfriend.
Wat a shame! After all, the air balloon was invented in France, by the Montgolfier brothers. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, the first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the brothers.
And they didn’t crash.
i won t help Fournier… i think Joe Kittering’s long standing record (since 1960!) should stay unmatched as long as possible.
as for Rousson, why did his girl freind leave him? ’cause he failed in his attempt or ’cause he lost all his money?
hmmm, will we ever know for sure?