Update from the Southern Ocean. 21 July

21 July 2016

Fedor is overflying Southern Ocean. He is in strong polar jet stream flow that pushes him down towards Antarctica.

“As the sun went down, balloon left its ceiling and started to descent. It is getting dark pretty soon as I am close to polar region where polar night in full mode. It is scary to be so down South and away from civilization. This place feels very lonely and remote. No land, no planes, no ships. Just thick layer of cyclonic clouds below me and dark horizon on the east. Good thing I manage to start the burner’s pilot lights – I will burn all night keeping the balloon above 7500 meters. Still struggling with the heater which gave up at this attitude. Now tracking 140-145. Forecast shows another 4-5 hours of this track – I will reach 60 Latitude South. This will be the coldest night since the start. It will be great news for me when track shift east”.

Best regards, pilot Fedor Konyukhov. Balloon RA2900G

Some data from on board satellite tracker Yellow Box:

Max altitude: 10.614 meters

Average altitude 7.397 meters

Max speed 240 km/hour

Average speed during the flight: 128 km/hour

Distance traveled 28.670 kilometres

You can follow the balloon’s path here: https://my.yb.tl/RRTW2016

You can also view the route map at www.iridium360.ru

The official website for the project “Around the world in a Roziere balloon “Morton” can be found at a flyfedor.ru