BOC helps to get cluster balloonist up, up and away

21 June 2010

BOC balloon gas has helped to invent a new mode of transport and with it, a first for an English Channel crossing. The Cluster Balloon, 54 gas-filled balloons tied to a chair, kept US adventurer Jonathan Trappe aloft on a flight from Ashford in Kent, over the white cliffs of Dover, to northern France.  It took him just under five hours to complete the 22 mile journey.

Travelling at 25 mph, Trappe ascended to 7,500 ft before cutting some of the balloons loose and crash-landing in a cabbage patch in Les Moeres, 12 miles west of Dunkirk, much to the bemusement of the local Gendarmerie.  Fortunately, with the cluster balloon classified as an aircraft, they were satisfied with his flight plan and documentation and sent him on his way.
Said Trappe, a qualified pilot, “It was an exceptional experience – very quiet and very peaceful. With steering very much in the hands of the elements, it was a childhood dream come true…….the fulfilment of a wonderful fantasy of grabbing onto toy balloons and floating away into space.“

BOC, a member of The Linde Group, traditionally supplies helium gas for party balloons but this was a new departure. Ian Stewart, BOC account manager, said, “Whilst it is not something we’d recommend you try at home, the idea really caught our imagination. I am delighted that BOC’s ability to execute resulted in a seamless launch of a new mode of transport and a new record for the iconic Channel crossing challenge.“

Trappe joins an elite group of history-makers. Pierre Blanchard was the first balloonist to cross the Channel in 1785. In 1963 Ed Yost and Don Piccard made it in a newly-invented hot air balloon in just over 3 hours and, 45 years later, jet man, Yves Rossy, made a successful jet-propelled crossing in 2008.