Russia (bbabo.net), - The record flight in the women's competition - to an altitude of more than five kilometers - was organized in Pereslavl-Zalessky by the Federation of Aeronautics of the Yaroslavl Region (FNAO).
- We waited two months for calm weather. From the morning of December 14, air traffic controllers banned the flight: planned flights were carried out from the Chkalovsky airfield in our zone. After lunch, the military went to meet us and gave us a window at an hour and a half, for which we are very grateful to them, '' said Dmitry Koryakin, President of the FFSA.
Victoria Arshava, a native of the Luhansk region, who has been living in the Moscow region for about 15 years, went for the record. According to Dmitry Koryakin, the girl became interested in flying in hot air balloons, completed training with her husband, flew at first in the Moscow region, and then the spouses joined the Pereslavl aeronauts.
- The courage for such a record, of course, requires remarkable, - admits the president of the federation. - From a purely technical point of view, it's not a problem to get up on the balloon - blow into the burner and that's it. The difficulty and danger is that shifts and turbulence may begin in the atmosphere. In addition, it is very cold at such an altitude, equipment may fail, the pilot burner goes out. These are difficult moments.
Dmitry Koryakin says that Victoria's burner really went out, but the athlete coped with it. Her colleagues on the ground also had to get really nervous when she did not answer the radio call several times in a row. The silence lasted no more than 30 seconds, but how disturbing they were!
The previous record for altitude (4353 meters) was set by the pilot Marina Fedorova from Veliky Novgorod in 2019. Therefore, residents of Pereslavl set the bar at 4400 meters. And Victoria Arshava on a hot air balloon of the AX-8 class (this is the most ordinary balloon with a volume of up to three thousand cubic meters) rose five kilometers and 100 meters.
According to the champion herself, her legs began to shake after landing. By the way, she landed about two kilometers from the starting point - it is believed that it is close. Aeronauts say: that day the wind was blowing in different directions, and the balloon from Arshava made an almost full circle.
The flight was supervised by the FAI International Commissioner Damir Mengazetdinov. Now the record must be approved by a special commission of the Russian Aviation Sports Federation.
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