60th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett - Result

Sunday September the 18th around 22:00hrs 24 teams will take to the air to compete in the 60th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett. The starting place for this year's event is Gladbeck in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany.

The aim of the contest is to fly the furthest distance from the launch site. ATC Network would like to wish all participants a safe and succesful race.

As usual with this gas balloon race co-ordination with ANSPs is paramount. The participating countries/airspaces was released on July 18. 

Live Tracking here: http://gordonbennett.aero/live

The participating pilots are:

AUS 01 Dariusz BRZOZOWSKI, John WALLINGTON D-OFVA
AUT 01 Gerald STUERZLINGER, Thomas HERNDL D-ORZL "Nicaero Nautilo Jules Verne Inspirito"
BEL 01 Philippe de COCK, Geert PEIRSMAN D-ORON “ESTELLE”
BEL 02 Jan THIJS, Reginald GEERINCK D-OLVE "Sparkasse Essen"
BEL 03 Jurgen DOBBELAERE, Gino CIERS D-OCOX “Belgica II”
ESP 01 Anulfo GONZALEZ, Angel AGUIRRE EC-MAK "Kamaroti"
FRA 01 Vincent LEYS, Christophe HOUVER F-PPGB "Saint Michel"
FRA 02 Pascal JOUBERT, Hervé MOINE F-PPSE “Petit Prince”
FRA 03 Benoit PELARD, Benoit PETERLE F-PALL “Marie Marvingt”
GBR 01 Paul SPELLWARD, Colin BUTTER D-OCFT "Kandersteg"
GBR 02 John ROSE, Clive BAILEY G-CGOZ "Cameron Balloons"
GER 01 Wilhelm EIMERS, Matthias ZENGE D-OTLI "Russian Record Factory"
GER 02 Dr. Heinz-Otto LAUSCH, Dr. Marion LAUSCH D-OGYN "White Pill in the Sky"
GER 03 Himke HILBERT, Dominik HAGGENEY D-OENH “Pearl”
LTU 01 Robertas KOMZA, Laurynas KOMZA D-OWML "Warsteiner"
NED 01 Rien JURG, Ron Van HOUTEN PH-KTS "Festo Flyer"
POL 01 Krzysztof ZAPART, Bazyli DAWIDZIUK SP-BMZ "Misia"
POL 02 Mateusz REKAS, Jacek BOGDANSKI D-OABD
SUI 01 Kurt FRIEDEN, Pascal WITPRAECHTIGER HB-QKF "MM Technics"
SUI 02 Nicolas TIECHE, Laurent SCIBOZ HB-QRV "Fribourg - Freiburg Challenge"
SUI 03 Walter GSCHWENDTNER, Ernst TSCHUPPERT HB-QPJ "Zürich"
USA 01 Barbara FRICKE, Peter CUNEO N-505YH "Foxtrot Charlie"
USA 02 Mark SULLIVAN, Cheryl WHITE D-OMFE "Ferdinand Eimermacher"
USA 03 Andy CAYTON, Christian SCHOEMIG D-OWBA "Warsteiner"

We will be covering the race with updates on ATC Network.

Updates will be added to this news thread throughout the race to update on which ANSPs will be providing safe passage for the 24 teams.

Update Thursday 15.09 22:00 Launch sequence was drawn this evening

Update Friday 16/09 21:15 Launch has been delayed until Sunday.

The launch of the balloons at the 60th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett has been postponed for 48 hours, from Friday night to Sunday night, to allow for bad weather to pass through.
The forecast for Sunday looks very promising. As of now, the launch is planned for Sunday late afternoon (18 Sept). Next briefing: Saturday (17 Sept) at 18.00h.

Update 17/09 18:00pm briefing: Mixed weather ahead may cause some tricky conditions and decisions. Read more http://gordonbennett.aero/news/briefing-6pm-sat-17-sept-2016-storms-on-the-horizon. Next briefing Sunday 18th 10:00 am.

Update 18/09 10:00am briefing: Launch is set for 22:00hrs.

Update 18/09 21:00pm: Balloons are almost all inflated

Update 18/09 22:00pm: Launch delayed till 23:30 DFS has delayed due to Dusseldorf inbounds.

 Update 19/09 01:00am: All 24 balloons are airborne.

Update 19/09 01:00 Heading of most balloons is between 180 and 235. So heading South tip on the Netherlands (LVNL) , Belgium (Belgocontrol), Luxembourg (AAL), Germany (DFS) and France (DSNA).

Update 19/09 10:00 21 Balloons are heading through the Ardennes towards Luxembourg and North France. 3 Balloons have already landed, GBR1, AUS1 and SUI3.

Update 19/09 23:00 10 balloons have now landed, 14 still airborne. FRA2, GER3, LTU1, NED1, USA2, BEL3 & BEL2 the latest to land.  

Positions of balloons at 23:00 19/09/2016 - Leading balloons ESP1, SUI 1 &2 are crossing the FRA-ITA border near Turin.

Update 20/09 21:00
Only 3 balloons remain airborne. The other 11 have all landed in France or in Italy presumably to avoid the forecast TS above Italy.
ESP1, SUI1 & SUI2 are heading for Southern tip of Italy. With the possibility to head across the Ionian Sea to Greece.


Gordon Bennett Balloon Race Update 20 Sept 21:00
3 remaining balloons at 3,500 to 5000 MSL @ around 40 Km/H

Update 21/09 08:00 SUI 1 are this year's winner of the 60th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett. Kurt FRIEDEN, Pascal WITPRAECHTIGER. SUI2 and ESP 1 landed on the Southern tip of Italy. SUI1 continued an is now over Greece.


The winner of the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race SUI1 Kurt FRIEDEN, Pascal WITPRAECHTIGER HB-QKF "MM Technics"

FINAL RESULT (Preliminary)

Final Result 60th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett