Source: ABC
July 11, 2016
PHOTO: Russian balloon adventurer Fedor Konyukhov is preparing his hot air balloon for an around-the-world flight. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
In a rural part of Western Australia, a Russian adventurer is preparing to take off on what could be the world's second solo hot-air balloon flight around the globe.
Fedor Konyukhov, 65, and his team have been preparing for the flight for almost a year, hoping to beat Steve Fossett's 2002 record of 13 days.
Mr Konyukhov plans to take off from Northam, 96 km north-east of Perth, on Tuesday morning. It is the exact same place the late Fossett launched on his sixth and final journey attempt.
The Russian and his team have had a number of set backs since arriving in WA in early June.
A cargo delay and then a string of unfavourable weather meant they had been unable to prepare for the launch, until now.
PHOTO: A team of volunteers helps prepare the hot-air balloon. (Supplied: Skyworks WA)
"We're in constant contact with the weather-routing people because we may have only a few weather windows for this season," Mr Konyukhov said.
"We have to be prepared when the weather window will be available."
After more than a month of waiting, Mr Konyukhov's team, which includes his son Oscar Konyukhov and experts from Russia, Australia and England, are now preparing for that window.
"We will spend all day today laying out the balloon," Oscar Konyukhov said.
"It will take a lot of people as it's very large."
The balloon is 52 metres high and weighs 1,600kg. About 30 volunteers from Northam have helped to lay the balloon out.
"Then we will take a break late this afternoon, early evening, before getting back to it around midnight when we'll fill the balloon with helium in preparation for an early-morning take-off," Oscar Konyukhov said.
PHOTO: Preparations for Tuesday's launch are progressing. (Supplied: Skyworks WA)
A lifetime of adventures
The 65-year-old adventurer, who is also a Russian Orthodox priest, is no stranger to long, perilous journeys.
He has climbed Mount Everest, sailed around the world, walked to the North and South poles and last year rowed across the Pacific Ocean to Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
That latest 16,000km mission, from Chile to Australia took 160 days, rowing 80 kilometres each day.
"I like to travel, that's the truth, I was 15 years old when I went on my first adventure, it's my lifestyle." Mr Konyukhov said.
In comparison to the ocean journey, Mr Konyukhov's planned balloon trip will be much shorter, but will have a different set of challenges.
If everything goes to plan in the morning, he will spend the next 13 days or more in the gondola of the Roziere hot-air balloon, a space not much bigger than himself.
PHOTO: Fedor Konyukhov hopes his balloon Morton will get him around the world solo beating Steve Fosset's record set in 2002. (Fedor Konyukhov Expedition Center)
At times he will travel at speeds of up to 300kph.
The team behind the man
David Boxall, the launch master and a design engineer at Cameron Balloons Bristol — the company that manufactured the balloon — said the flight would require constant attention.
"When you go around the world with a jet stream, people think it's a continuous ride, that you get in the jet stream and you stay there," Mr Boxall said.
"But it's not like that. It's like a really poor car journey, some of it's highway but when that ends you have to descend into the lower atmosphere, onto the sort of B-roads, before manoeuvring yourself back into the next bit of good jet stream."
Mr Konyukhov will use autopilot to fly the balloon level but he cannot rely on it the whole time.
He will also be in constant contact with his control centre and the team's meteorologist in Belgium for updates on the best route.
The flight path planned for the trip goes over Australia, the Tasman Sea, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, South America (Chile and Argentina), the Atlantic Ocean, South Africa and the Indian Ocean before landing back in Australia.
The total distance travelled will be about 33,000km.
While the team is busy preparing today, they all still hope the weather remains on course for a successful take-off at sunrise.
PHOTO: Fedor Konyukhov hopes to cover 33,000km in less than 13 days. (Fedor Konyukhov Expedition Center)
Sashleevah Pooteet, Fedor and Morton.
Dennis Marrotte