<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Last September, as the sun set over the English city of Bristol, 20 giant jellyfish shapes shivered into the sky, one by one. Their loose skins quivered and swayed in the pale rosy light, swelling as they filled with hydrogen gas into taut, five-story-high spheres. The start of the Gordon Bennett Cup \u00ADballoon race was drawing near. For American balloonists Richard Abruzzo, 47, and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, the evening was becoming tense. The weather was colder than expected; Abruzzo had to roam the competition site trying to find someone who would loan him a down jacket. Then, as the ground crew moved their balloon to the launch area, he and Rymer Davis realized the system that charged their communication and navigation gear had a faulty port. By the time they fixed it and powered their equipment, the pair and their balloon\u2014designated USA-2 by race officials\u2014had missed their scheduled departure slot. At last, at 11:29 pm, all was ready. Well-wishers and crew members pressed around the basket as &amp;quot;The Star-Spangled Banner&amp;quot; played on a loudspeaker. Members of the ground crew pulled away sandbags holding the balloon to the ground, and Abruzzo and Rymer Davis rose into the darkness, until all the onlookers could see was the rectangular bottom of the dangling wicker basket. In a few more seconds, that tiny shape disappeared as well.  For the next four days, Abruzzo and Rymer Davis drifted more than 1000 miles, first south over France, then east over the Mediterranean and across Italy. The pair maneuvered to find optimum air currents, jockeying from 18th place to sixth. And then, with the race nearing its climax, USA-2 vanished. Gas Racing Balloon Built for extended trips, the hydrogen gas balloons used by racers in the Gordon Bennett Cup share features that maximize control and minimize risks.  Inaugurated in 1906, the Gordon Bennett Cup is the oldest and most prestigious event in ballooning aviation. The goal is straightforward\u2014land as far as possible from the launch site. To do so, \u00ADcompetitors search for the strongest winds by using the only two control mechanisms at their disposal: dumping sand and water to increase altitude, and venting gas to descend. The team that manages these finite resources most skillfully travels farthest and takes home the cup.  But drifting with the wind in a wicker basket thousands of feet above the ground makes gas-\u00ADballoon racing one of the most dangerous sports. The greatest natural hazards are thunderstorms, which pose multiple dangers that can destroy a \u00ADballoon\u2014severe downdrafts, updrafts, wind shear, hail and lightning. During the running of the race in 1923, three balloons were struck by lightning, killing five of the six crew members. The 2010 race offered a new, man-made hazard: land mines. The day of the race, officials announced that the Balkans, which had previously been off-limits for competitors, would now be open to flyovers and landings. The only hitch: An estimated 1 million active land mines are scattered around the region. For a balloonist touching down beneath 35,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas, the race could end in a truly dramatic explosion.  This perilous, highly technical and expensive sport has produced a small community that is at once intensely competitive and tightly knit. Everyone in it must possess not only the money to field a balloon and a ground crew, but also the willingness to take on potentially fatal risks. Richard Abruzzo lived in the center of this world his entire life. His father, Ben, was a legend, having been a member of teams that made the first \u00ADballoon crossings of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Richard carried on the family tradition, breaking his father&amp;#039;s endurance record in 1992 by flying from Maine to Morocco.  Rymer Davis, a Denver radiologist and a former champion skier, started ballooning in the 1970s, when Americans were first adopting the sport. She competed against the elder Abruzzo in the 1980s and shared his driven personality. &amp;quot;Everything she did, she did better than anyone else,&amp;quot; says Kathie Leyendecker, Rymer Davis&amp;#039;s friend.  During the 2005 Gordon Bennett Cup, Richard Abruzzo and Rymer Davis were gliding over Kansas when their balloon caught a downdraft and hit a power line. Abruzzo fell 40 feet to the ground, shattering his wrist and fracturing his ribs and pelvis. Without his weight, the balloon soared to 14,000 feet before Rymer Davis brought it under control.  The accident didn&amp;#039;t dull the pair&amp;#039;s ardor for the race. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s like the America&amp;#039;s Cup,&amp;quot; says Vermont-based balloon-maker Brian Boland. &amp;quot;To compete, you really have to go for broke.&amp;quot;  &amp;amp;gt; USA-2&amp;#039;s Final Hours &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;   At the start of day four, only six balloons were still in the air. Just after 7 am, the French set down in southern Italy. The British, two German teams and the Swiss all rode powerful easterly winds at an altitude of about 10,000 feet across the Adriatic Sea. In the early afternoon, one of the German teams landed in Croatia; the other balloons kept heading east. The Americans, however, chose a different strategy. At about 10:30 pm, Abruzzo and Rymer Davis dropped to 2093 feet above the water, where they waited for winds that would carry them southeast into Albania. The move would maximize their distance but increase their time over water. &amp;quot;They were playing a very clever game,&amp;quot; says David Hempleman-\u00ADAdams, who was in the British balloon. Soon after midnight, USA-2, now just 1400 feet above the water, shed ballast to ascend. By 4:30 am, it had reached 10,000 feet. Then the wind began shifting to the southeast. Albania was in the team&amp;#039;s sights. The gamble was paying off. But the dawn light revealed impending trouble\u2014the weather had changed unexpectedly, and thunderclouds were massing around USA-2. An automatic position recorder aboard the balloon registered an altitude of 9065 feet at 5:58 am, with a southerly heading at 9 mph. It was the final transmission. Minutes later, Croatian air traffic control radar detected the craft plummeting at 50 mph. Then, silence.  The balloon was equipped with a life raft and emergency communication equipment, but the Italian Coast Guard didn&amp;#039;t pick up any voice communication or signals from the balloon&amp;#039;s emergency transponder. Even in the absence of physical evidence, it gradually became clear that the team could not have survived. After five days, the Italian authorities called off the search. Hundreds mourned at memorial services held for Abruzzo in New Mexico and for Rymer Davis in Colorado. &amp;quot;Richard and Carol were very competitive people,&amp;quot; says Pennsylvania-based balloon-maker Albert Padelt. &amp;quot;And that was one reason why they were so well-liked.&amp;quot; On Dec. 6, an Italian fishing trawler pulled up the missing balloon and gondola, with the two pilots&amp;#039; bodies still inside the broken basket. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is ongoing, but experts say the balloon&amp;#039;s condition makes it unlikely that lightning caused the crash. &amp;quot;If it had been struck by lightning, there wouldn&amp;#039;t have been a lot of the envelope left,&amp;quot; says Don Edwards, event director at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, who studied photos of the wreckage. &amp;quot;The balloon looked intact, so it was likely turbulence.&amp;quot;  Don Cameron, flight director of the 2010 \u00ADGordon Bennett Cup, says that in the heat of \u00ADcompetition, balloonists may push the boundaries of what&amp;#039;s safe: &amp;quot;There can be a temptation to go outside the limitations to try harder to win.&amp;quot; Of course, that willingness to accept risk is at the heart of gas balloon racing. This time, it cost the sport two of its most accomplished pilots. A Slow Race Turns Deadly Sept. 25, 2010: 11:36 pm After the final launch from Bristol, 20 balloons drift south at about 20 mph and climb to about 6000 feet. Pilots change speed and direction by ascending or descending to catch air currents. By the time the racers reach southern France, all but six teams\u2014two from Germany and one each from France, the U.S., the U.K. and Switzerland\u2014have landed instead of braving the Mediterranean. The French balloon drops out in Italy; the others cross the Adriatic, with the Swiss traveling farthest. The Americans, however, get into trouble over water.   1. Sept. 28, 7:13 pm Abruzzo and Rymer Davis, team USA-2, soar over the Adriatic 70 miles east of the Italian coast. They trail the other remaining balloonists by several hours.  2. Sept. 28, 10:28 pm For hours USA-2 makes a wide, uneven figure-eight, venting gas to descend into a sluggish breeze. The Americans are moving slowly on purpose, waiting for the wind to change. 3. Sept. 29, 12:28 am  USA-2 dips to just a quarter-mile above the water. Before dawn, the pilots drop ballast to climb to 10,000 feet. As they hoped, the wind has shifted to the southeast. 4. Sept. 29, 4:58 am   A thunderstorm developed overnight, and USA-2 is now heading for it at 10,108 feet. Wind gusts, hail and lightning\u2014typical thunderstorm phenomena\u2014are fatal to a balloon.  5. Sept. 29, 5:58 am Race officials lose contact with USA-2. An air traffic control radar station clocks its descent into the water at 50 mph. Two months later, fishermen find the wreckage with the pilots&amp;#039; bodies inside. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a6675/the-disappearance-of-the-usa-2-racing-balloon-what-went-wrong/>