Common questions for Cluster Balloonist Jonathan R. Trappe

  CARIBOU, Maine — Excitement is building tremendously throughout the community as Cluster Balloonist Jonathan R. Trappe looks to soar across the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel suspended by hundreds of colorful balloons — but growing alongside that excitement is perplexity as to how exactly the voyage is going to work.
Trappe and his small yellow boat, The Improbable, will be carried from Caribou across the ocean to destinations unknown by hundreds of individual gas balloons — a mode of transportation most children have dreamed of at one point or another.
Eight students of Reed Nonken’s criminal justice class at the Caribou based Regional Technology Center submitted questions to Jonathan Trappe about his flight, and the cluster balloonist was kind enough to answer each in depth.
Below are the questions and responses.
Question: Dan Powers asked, “How many cubic feet of helium does each balloon hold and how many balloons are there?”
Answer: “The balloons stretch and, as I climb, the helium gas in the balloons expands. So, at the surface each balloon is filled with approximately 291 cubic feet of helium, which makes it a sphere with an approximate 8-foot diameter. By the time I have reached 18,000 feet in altitude, the gas will have doubled in volume, and the balloon has stretched to nearly 10.5 feet diameter.
“I will take 370 balloons, of two different types. Two hundred and seventy are dilatable balloons, like a latex party balloon. Then, 100 are ‘plastic’ balloons, more like a beach ball; they feel like a very thick trash bag. I do this because different balloons have different properties. The latex balloons stretch very well as we go to altitude, but they are sensitive to UV. The plastic balloons do not stretch as well … but they are tougher, and they are not UV sensitive.”
Question: Hale Cushman asked, “ How long will it take?”
Answer: “Three to six days in the sky. It is like camping — everything I need to live, including food, shelter, and supplemental oxygen, must be brought with me — as I camp in the sky for days.”
Question: Kyle MacCallum asked, “How do you know how many balloons it will take?”
Answer: “Calculation, experience, and a safety factor drive the count of balloons in the system.
“First, it is easy for us to calculate how many balloons we will need to lift the core system — me, the boat gondola, and the gear. But, it is harder to calculate the precise number of extra balloons that I will need for two separate factors: flight inputs, and balloon failures.
“If I want to arrest a climb, I cut away or pop balloons. If I am descending, I drop sand or water ballast to become lighter and fly on. So, intentionally popping or cutting away a balloon is a ‘flight input.’ The more balloons I start with, the more sand and water ballast I can carry, which gives me more options. This equates to more times I can climb very high, then cut balloons, and more times I can drop sand ballast without running out.
“I also have to account for balloons that will be lost in-flight due to failures; some of the balloons will pop after being subjected to some minor trauma, or from extended exposure to the intense UV environment in flight. I look at data from my prior flights, taking note of the cell failure rate. I can then extrapolate from this to the longer anticipated flight duration, adding a factor of increased failure because of the extended time in the sun.
“With the number of balloons I have, I can lose 80 percent of my balloons and still be flying, suspended in the boat gondola. If needed, I could even climb into a small harness I carry, then cut away the boat gondola itself. I would be in the sky, suspended only in the harness, potentially miles high. If cutting away the boat in this fashion, I could lose 90 percent of the balloons, and still be in the sky, in that harness — though I could no longer survive any ditching at sea. So, I would only do that if I was almost to land … and just needed a tiny bit more time aloft to make landfall.”
Question: Jessica Kovach asked, “What happens if a balloon pops?”
Answer: “An individual balloon is producing about 15 pounds of lift. If one balloon pops, I must drop an equal amount of ballast. To prepare for exactly this eventuality, I will carry roughly 4,980 pounds of ballast (sand mixed with salt so it doesn’t freeze.) There is also other gear that I could ballast if I needed to in an emergency — such as my food. All told, I can lose 80 percent of my balloons to failures, and still be flying.”
Question: Victoria Dunn asked, “What happens if you run into a storm?”
   Answer: This is the single most serious factor of this expedition. I can control for many individual issues, but weather is the big one that is out of my control. How do you plan for weather? Two things: 1) have a good meteorologist, and 2) Be patient.
Meteorologist: “All pilots are trained in weather, but I don’t have a post-graduate degree in meteorology. Instead, we work very closely with a specialist — a meteorologist — that helps inform our flight. He helps us make the decision to fly on a day, and in a weather system, where we will have the highest possible chance of success. This meteorologist is Don Day, and he also did weather for the Red Bull Stratos mission last year, which is the flight program where a man jumped from 128,000 feet. Don and his team will be running weather for this flight, 24-hours-a-day during the mission.”
Patience: “I have been on-site in Caribou for 15 weeks; this Saturday will make it 16 weeks. To have a safe flight, you have to be willing to not fly when conditions aren’t right, and you must be patient enough to wait for the right weather system.”
“Since weather is a factor we can’t control, we get as much information as possible (with the help of our team meteorologist), and then we are patient to wait for the right weather system.”
Question: Sara Hamlin asked, “How high does it go?”
Answer: “My highest ever altitude with toy balloons has been 20,053 feet.
“For the trans-Atlantic, I am cleared to go as high as 25,000 feet. However, it this is extremely demanding from a physiological perspective; it is extremely cold (perhaps -20F), and I use my oxygen very fast. In addition, the UV is more intense that high, which burns my skin and destroys my latex balloons in-flight, leaving me only with the plastic balloons.
“So, I will not go that high unless I need to in order to get a more favorable wind (better direction, or higher speed.) Ideally, I would do the entire flight in the 10,000-15,000 foot range, where the temperatures are lower and I do not need as much supplemental oxygen.”
Question: Ryan Tourk asked, “How do you sleep?”
Answer: “I have a pillow.”
“In addition, we have a device made up called the “Dr. Snyder Trappe Nag.” We have team members with a wide variety of skills. Dr. Snyder is a PhD. electrical engineer and a tinkerer. He built a device that will take my current GPS altitude and then will alarm if I deviate by +/- 500 feet.
“At night, the balloon system flies very even and level. Once I have it flying level, and there is nothing I need to do, I can set the Dr. Snyder Trappe Nag, rest — and the device will nag me if I start to climb or descend out of my window.”
Question: Hale Cushman asked, “How long will it take?”
  Answer: Three to six days in the sky. It is like camping — everything you need to live, including food, shelter, and supplemental oxygen — as I camp in the sky for days.”
  Question: A student who wishes to remain anonymous asked, “How will you use the bathroom?”
Answer: “You can reference this: Title 14 CFR, Part 91.15”