Q How did it
feel when you got out of the Hot Air Balloon? How does it
feel to be
famous all of a sudden, definately as first woman pilot to
cross the
North Pole? Did one of you go to Haverford Middle School and
have Mr.
Stefl as a science teacher? Did you see Santa Claus?
A It felt extremely terrific after the flight, we were
all doing the
yeeahah thing. What a sense of accomplishment. As far as
being famous,
I don't know about that.... I am only famous among a
small group of
supporters like you, but it feels very nice to have the
support from
people like you. Rick Schimpf went to Haverford Middle
School. Mr
Stefl was his 8th grade science teacher. As far as Santa
Claus goes
we only saw his footsteps in the snow. We knew it was him
because
we saw the footprints of his eight reindeer as well. I'll
always
believe in Santa Claus now.
Thanks for writing -
Deb Harding
Q What was your favorite part about your trip and
your job?
Love,
Taylor Wolff, Joe's
niece
A Tayor,
My favorite part of my trip was flying over the
North Pole.
It was so quiet and beautiful. It was interesting flying
over a place
where so few people have ever been. My favorite part of my
job was
I wasn't doing it.
Q How are you going to get the propane to vaporize at
those temperatures?
Regular heaters for the tanks or something special?
No matter if it is the first female or not, what you guys are doing
takes guts (gender
optional). My hat is off to all of you. God speed.
Norman Baron, MD
(ballooning in the Southern California desert
where 50 degrees F is cold).
A We're hoping that "nuking" the tanks with nitrogen will give
us enough pressure /vaporization to have complete burner operation. In the
previous years they've had good burner operation on some burners while
poor operations on others. We'll find out how our burners react to the
extreme cold when we get there.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Thanks for your support.
Q Hello ---In the extreme cold temperatures at the
Pole, will wicker "bounce"
back or shatter?
Do you need to some how
"dry out" the wicker to remove any internal moisture before heading
North?
Are you using a standard wicker gondolla, or a custom-designed
landing craft?
Sounds like a GREAT TIME!! Safe
landings!
A We are using our regular wicker basket. Over the
years other materials have been tried, but wicker still seems to be the
best all around material. It's light, flexible, inexpensive and long
lasting.
We expect the wicker to tighten up in the cold. All moisture,
dirt, etc. will of course freeze. We expect the basket to still stay
together with only minor damage. We'll let you know how it turns
out.
Q
Will the basket be 'open'
during your journey and if so what will you do to keep from
freezing???
Bob Park
Unison
Project
A Yes the basket was open, we used survival clothing
which is good to temperatures of 100 degrees below 0.
Dear Crew,
My name is April Taylor and I
am the science teacher at the Rodeph Sholom Elementary School on the upper
west side of Manhattan in NYC. I received information about your flight
from 2 of my students (Alex and Samantha Levine, whom are related to some
of the crew members.) I am thrilled that you have made the log-books of
this historic flight
available to students. Congratulations on your
Guiness Book of World Records achievement. My students are thrilled that
they are related to the first woman to pilot a balloon over the North
Pole!
Our questions
are:
Q's
1. What was the average
temperature over the north pole during your flight? What was the lowest
temperature?
The average temperature on the North Pole
was negative 8 degrees Fahrenheit during our stay.
2. Did you record wind speed? If so, what was the
ave. & fastest wind speeds recorded?
The average wind speed was 14 knots. The
highest measured in the 3 days was 25 knots.
3. Did you fly through any snow
storms?
There were snow flurries while we were
staying on the pole.
There is generally very little snow fall on the
North Pole.
What does snow stays forever.
4. Did you sleep in your
balloon?
We slept in tents. See pictures for what
the tent looked like.
5. Did you land at
the North Pole?
We flew the balloon over the Nort Pole. We
took off within a few Kilometers of the Pole and flew over it and landed a
few kilometers on the other side.
6.
What was the longest amount of time that you were up in the
air?
We flew once for 45 minutes.
7. How many "legs" were there to the complete flight
journey? (flights & landings)
We only flew once while we were on the
North Pole. It was very difficult to get the balloon and suppplies close
enough to the North Pole for more then one attempt. Once we had good
weather we took our chance and set up the balloon and
flew.
Thanks,
The crew of Air
Ventures
Q
What are the daytime and
nighttime temperatures at the pole and what hotel are you staying in.
Current West Chester temperature is 78 degrees on Friday, April 17. Wish
you guys all the best. Be careful. Fly safe.
Regards,
Mike
Renish
West Chester, PA
A Mike,
The night time and day time temperatures
are the same. At this timeof the year there is no noght time or day time.
The sun shines for 24 hours a day. It was quite interesting. You lose all
concept of time. You basically eat and sleep when you want
to.
Thanks from the crew of Air Ventures.
Q
Which North Pole are you
shooting for... the "Magnetic Pole" or the True North Pole"?
Also,....
Do you expect to meet Santa?
Best of Luck!
Susan
W.
A Susan,
We flew over the true North Pole. I looked
for Santa, but couldn't find him. I wanted to ask him a few questions
about my last Christmas gift.
Thanks for writing - The
crew from Air Ventures
