Balloon Man Trappe, Makes Another Amazing Flight

By Meera Dolasia on 12/03/2010

North Carolina resident Jonathan Trappe made history in May, when he became the first cluster balloonist to fly across the English Channel. On November 19th, the daredevil was back at it, this time conquering the skies of Mexico, in celebration of its bicentennial independence anniversary from Spain.

Strapped to his office chair that was attached to a cluster of helium-filled balloons mimicking the colors of the Mexican flag, the 37-year-old launched off from Leon, in the wee hours of the morning.

Controlling his altitude by releasing air from the helium balloons the certified airline pilot navigated his jet across the countryside, covering an astounding 100 miles at speeds ranging from18-50mph.

Dressed in jeans and protective eye glasses and equipped with an oxygen tank for the high altitude, Mr. Trappe relaxed taking in the sights and some amazing pictures of the region's hills and valleys, before landing gracefully in Colorado, Mexico, eight hours later.

While Mr. Trappe makes cluster balloon flying look really easy, he puts in a lot of work, training for each flight. A certified airline pilot, the adventurer who works as a Projects Manager in Raleigh,North Carolina, carries a bunch of safety equipment and also alerts air traffic controllers ahead of time. In addition to that, he also has a support crew that follows his progress from the ground. To check out his previous exciting flights go to www.clusterballoon.com.

Sources:clusterbaloon.com, dailymail.co.uk

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Comments (92)

stacy 5 days ago

wow that's kooooool!!!!!!

Replying to stacy
MiLLie 5 days ago

omgeee i love that mexican ballon flag

Replying to MiLLie
gottaread 2 months ago

I saw this one thing on Urban Legends about some other guy doing that.

Replying to gottaread
lol2002 3 months ago

That is rely scary little kid come on that can not be true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replying to lol2002
swirlylollypops 3 months ago

ahh!!! scary!!!

Replying to swirlylollypops
eel 3 months ago

How did he land? that must be so scary but cool. :P

Replying to eel
PANDA GIRL! 3 months ago

Wow amazing what if the ballon flat?

Replying to PANDA GIRL!
Stefani351 5 months ago

That could be scary, like what if you fell? He could of in the 8 hours.

Replying to Stefani351
blossom929 6 months ago

u know if you are flying over a firework show well................................................................................. GOOD LUCK

Replying to blossom929
zemirah 7 months ago

That must be so cool it's like being from space! SWEET! Wish i could do that

Replying to zemirah