Unit 8:
Aiming high
The first passengers of a hot air balloon, on September 19th 1783, were a sheep, a
duck and a rooster. They came crashing to the ground after 15 minutes. A couple of
months later, the first manned attempt took place in a balloon made by the French
Montgolfier brothers. It flew for a period of 20 minutes from its launch in the
centre of Paris. Two years later, the first flight across the English Channel took
place, which was considered the first significant step in ballooning history. (1)
the attempt to replicate the journey resulted in the death of the balloonist due to
the use of a hydrogen balloon in tandem with a helium balloon. (2) George
Washington saw the launch of the first hot air balloon in North America in 1793.
(3) at this time hot air balloons were hailed as the future of travel. It was
believed that they epitomised freedom and symbolised prosperity, and that these
commodities could be carried across the globe, denying national frontiers and
defying territorial boundaries.
(4) the balloon dream deflated in the following century, mostly as a result of the
series of horrendous accidents which ensued. They were not, in fact, any good at
all for travel, as they couldn't be steered, so they soon became a form of
entertainment instead: acrobats hung from them (and often fell); fireworks were set
off from them (often catastrophically). Napoleon saw them as a potential weapon of
war, but was disabused of this belief when Nelson wiped out his balloon regiment in
the Battle of the Nile in 1794. (5) Civil War to advise ground troops about enemy
positions. (6) balloons were used in the American there was briefly a balloon
postal service during the Prussian siege of Paris in 1870, taking mail and homing
pigeons to the outside world.
Notwithstanding the previous disasters, they have proved useful in research into
insect airflows and therefore bird migration paths, and in determining how high
humans can go and survive in the ever-decreasing amounts of oxygen in the
stratosphere. (7) they continued to pose a challenge for record breakers, and not
only for the fictional characters of Jules Verne adventure novels. Three Swedish
aeronauts attempted to reach the North Pole by balloon in 1897; their remains were
not discovered until 1930. British billionaire Richard Branson and Swedish engineer
Per Lindstrand completed the first transatlantic hot-air balloon flight in the
Virgin Atlantic Flyer in 1987, and four years later they broke the manned- balloon
altitude record when over Texas at almost 20000 metres while on a 8000-kilometre
Pacific crossing from Japan to Canada lasting 46 hours. This has since been beaten
by Dr Vijaypat Singhania of India, who recorded the height of 21027 metres in a
Cameron Z-1600 hot-air balloon over Mumbai on 26th November 2005.
Going with the wind remains appealing to this day, and buying someone a trip in a
hot air balloon continues to be a popular choice of birthday present - at least for
the purchaser.
There are many creative and romantic ways to propose. However, one Malaysian dare
devil went above and beyond to show his girlfriend just how much she means to him.
Keow Wee Loong, 28, decided to put his climbing skills to good use by scaling the
world's tallest bridge (550 metres) in China to propose to his girlfriend.
He filmed the whole stunt and took pictures before posting it on her Facebook page
to pop the question on 27th November 2016.
The couple met back in May 2016, while Loong was in Japan to take photos inside the
Fukushima exclusion zone, when he lost his wallet containing 300,000 yen (roughly
$2,600). He then stumbled into a Family Mart convenience store where he met his now
fiancée Maria Sibielak, 24, from Poland.
At the time, Sibielak was preparing curry for a customer and greeted Loong in
Japanese. When he replied back in English, she lit up.
'She spoke to me in Japanese, assurning I was Japanese. But I replied to her in
English and she seemed excited to be able to speak to a foreigner, Loong reported.
After she treated him to a bowl of curry, the two talked for over an hour. Loong
grew fond of his new friend and wanted to get her contact info.
He was hesitant at first because he was shy and was scared she had a boyfriend.
However, he knew he couldn't miss this rare opportunity.
'I knew if I didn't ask for her contact number, I would never see her again,' he
said.
For the next four days up until he had to go to Fukushima, Loong visited Sibielak
at work every day and walked her back home after work. Sometimes he'd miss the
train and had to walk two hours back to his hotel.
Six months later, Loong decided to pop the question, but wanted it to be extra
special. He decided to film himself on the tallest building in China and show her
the video. However, he was caught by security so decided to change locations to
Beipanjiang Bridge, the world's tallest bridge.
Loon and his videographer Abraham Shilton Cambala spent over two hours climbing the
mountain to the bridge -and another 40 minutes scaling to the top of the crane,
740-metres high.
