News from Australia
Preparations for the round-the-world balloon flight are in full swing in Northam, West Australia, where local aero club hosts Fedor Konyukhov’s crew and the equipment. By the time of our arrival to Northam, gondola and burners were already delivered from the UK by our partner, DHL.
By now, the gondola equipment and the burners passed all tests successfully; Cameron Balloons’ representatives are happy with the results.
Several days ago we received three containers with helium with a total volume of 10,000 cubic meters. The supplier, Supagas, sent their technicians to ensure the launch pad is in proper order and to perform other essential prep tasks.
At present we are only one step behind the schedule: the container shipped by Kuehne & Nagel from the UK to Australia, is still going through the customs in Fremantle. Fortunately, there’s only envelop and empty gas bottles there, but the crew is anxious to get everything together to finalise the preparations in time.
At the same time, Fedor Konyukhov passed the tests to obtain temporary certificate of balloon pilot, necessary for performing flights in Australia.
As planned, from the 20th of June we start monitoring meteorologic conditions in order to define launch date. The launch is not expected to happen prior to the above date.
Translated by Galina