Japanese Balloonists Ditch In Pacific Ocean

On Wednesday, ANN told you about two daring Japanese balloonists, who were attempting to be the first to cross the Pacific Ocean since British entrepreneur Richard Branson made the trip in 1991. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for the crew. The balloon ditched in the Pacific late Tuesday after traveling about 1615km. Initial reports indicate they crew spent about 8 hours in the sea before being rescued by a cargo ship. The Amanogawa 2 took off at 20:52:45 UTC on January 26th from Tochigi City, 100 km north of Tokyo. The balloon made the emergency landing on the Pacific Ocean at 0930 UTC on 27th. Reports indicate the crew performed a relatively soft landing on the water's surface, resulting in no injuries t

Mechanical Problems Out Of Way...Hopefully

Dr. Gustavus McLeod has reached Lima, Peru after overcoming some nagging technical problems that forced his return to Florida late last week. January 22 was set to be the first day of a new bone-chilling adventure for the pioneering aviatior. Unfortunately, he was forced to return back to Florida after he noticed a series of abnormal electrical and oil temperature indications on the aircraft's instrument panel. The modified Velocity kitplane, called the Firefly, was worked on over the weekend and the decision was made to depart southbound on Monday. McLeod, 49 will head to Santiago, Chile today before flying down to Ushuaia, Argentina. From there, McLeod will fly the Firefly to the South Pole and back when weather cond

FAA Proposes to Designate Authority to Organizations

The FAA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that could transform the way the agency regulates skydiving and other aviation activities. The FAA is proposing the establishment of an “Organization Designation Authorization” program, under which the agency would designate various organizations with the authority to perform specific regulatory functions on behalf of the FAA. At its upcoming meeting, the United States Parachuting Association's (USPA) Board of Directors will consider the implications for USPA and the skydiving community and develop USPA’s formal response to the proposal.