Balloon flight in Iceland and country no 84! Fire on tire of the RV and stuck so far in Egilstadir

What a day!!

 

happy in the air over Iceland!

Sector 3 of our Trans-Atlantic rally turned into a huge mix of highs and lows!

It started at 8am with Phil, myself and Cameraman Tim driving up to Egilstadir to find Marek, our helpful Polish gas station manager who then drove us to find his friend August.

August runs the most amazing work shop with screws and parts scattered everywhere around his yard.

August and Marek at the garage trying to create a connector

After long explanations and more trials in how to fit together the parts that we needed to create  an Icelandic refuelling hose, August seemed to have finally managed the trick! Back to the gas station and the refuelling worked like a clock.

Rush down to the airport where we kindly have been granted access to use the entire strip until 3pm local as no in- or outbound traffic. 

Allie inflating the balloon

With the help of the local fire- and security guys and the rest of the Prepare2go team we rigged the 0-56 in no time and I had the balloon upright at 10.45 despite quite some strong 8-9kt wind.

Ping, and off I went shooting up the sky as I flew solo and had to do a positive take off due to the wind. 

The visibility after the heavy rains from last night was amazing. 

view down the runway of Egilstadir

Egilstadir international airport from a hot air balloon

I saw the snow-capped  mountains and ahead of me the coast and the fjord. 

As the higher wind pushed me towards the inhospitable looking freezing cold waters I descended again and landed after a brisk 50m drag landing on the runway sides in the grass.

What a feeling !! Country no 84! The first female pilot to fly here and only the fourth flight ever that’s been made in a hot air balloon in this country. 

What a relieve! Thanks so much to everybody involved!

After refuelling the bottles, returning the hired cares and loading up we were all ready to set for Isafjador and onto Greenland. 

But then fate struck: as the three of us taxied to the end of the runway, I suddenly saw the left hand tire of the RV on fire!!

Luckily they managed to extinguish the fire and with the help of two fire engines everything was quickly under control but it meant abandoning our flight and returning to the apron.

It’s now a matter of finding a new tyre and some spare parts to get going on. The time pressure to get to Greenland is on and we are very concerned not to make it. 

Every day here is this country costs a fortune and the weather in Greenland sounds fantastic right now – but might not hold. Keep fingers crossed we can move on soon again!

What a day so far and it’s not finished yet!