Bashkiria breaks world record for non-stop hot air balloon flight

A new world record for the duration of a flight on a hot air balloon AX-9 with a volume of up to four thousand cubic meters was set in Bashkiria on February 17.

The flight took place under the motto "Friendship Without Limits". The international balloon team gathered two experienced pilots Sergey Bazhenov from Moscow and Nairi Barseghyan from Armenia.

This is their second attempt to set the record. The pilots undertook the first in 2021, but then the flight had to be interrupted due to weather conditions: the pilots reached a cold front, and the temperature dropped to minus 37 degrees, the equipment failed.

The balloon took off in the Orenburg region near the village of Yasnaya Polyana and flew through Oktyabrsky, Chekmagush, Dyurtyuli, and Neftekamsk.

In total, the aeronauts flew 485 km 764 meters and landed not far on the outskirts of the Kokush village near Neftekamsk.

The non-stop flight time was 34 hours 41 minutes.

Thus, the Russian-Armenian team broke the previous record set by Ivan Menyailo and Fedor Konyukhov five years ago.

As flight director Ruslan Kilmamatov explained to Bashinform News Agency, the route was designed to fly over the even land of Bashkiria. In addition, the pilots dropped spent cylinders down; the escort group should have been able to pick them up. In total, there were 2,100 cubic meters of the propane-butane gas mixture on board the balloon.

Author: Rozalia Valeeva