Spirit of Knoxville V Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight

A

akula65

Rear Admiral
"Hello,
The Spirit of Knoxville V (SNOX V) balloon will launch this weekend from Knoxville, TN. Please visit http://spiritofknoxville.com for more information and live flight tracking. This will be the last SNOX flight this season, the trans-atlantic jet stream wind is slowing as warm weather arrives.

8PM EDT Saturday April 5
(0000 UTC April 6)

Thank you,
The Spirit of Knoxville Crew"

I have been looking at jet stream forecasts on this site:

http://squall.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

Assuming the balloon launches on schedule and stays at altitude, it will most likely be headed for North Africa or the Iberian Peninsula, even though its initial heading will be more northerly than SNOX IV.
 
Bad weather is apparently all that is required to bring a balloon down. It looks like that is what happened to SNOX V, and if WB8ELK launches today, his balloon may catch up to the storm front that is just now passing through the launch site in Alabama.
 
So, are we going to start a betting pool on if he crashes, ababdons flight, gets shot down, dies in transit?

*cocks rifle*

I'm betting he gets shot down. ;)
 
The WB8ELK-13 balloon made it up to about 30,600 ft. and then plummeted. I don't know what caused it to come down. WB8ELK said it came down somewhere between Knoxville and Chattanooga TN.

The VE3REX-11 balloon got some cool pictures Saturday as it ascended to over 100,000 ft:

http://greatballoonchase.ca/
 
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