Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: LTARGlok on April 23, 2008, 06:23:50 PM
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A Roman Catholic priest by the name of Adelir Antonio de Carli wanted to build a spiritual rest stop for truckers on the highway near the big shipping port of Paranaguá in Brazil. de Carli complained that existing truck stops along the highway tempted truck drivers with harmful activities such as consuming alcoholic beverages and watching undressed dancing girls.
To raise money for this spiritual rest stop, the priest decided to attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records mark for the longest time ever spent in the air using just party balloons. The current record is 19 hours, and he wanted to break that.
Here is a photo of the priest being interviewed by the media before taking off last Sunday. You can see some of the party balloons being prepared in the background:
(http://static-p-a.comcast.net/api/assets/bin-200804/f3d95d7a66f3f077b93523882c573988.jpg)
Alas, things did not go well at all for the priest. He used a huge number of balloons, hoping that having so many would help him break the record. However, the balloons had so much lift in them, that he quickly went up high into the atmosphere. He was followed for a brief period, but then disappeared into the clouds. Here is the last photo that was taken of him and all of his balloons as he entered the clouds:
(http://static-p-a.comcast.net/api/assets/bin-200804/649993f7daab5e6f461b58de1c7de90f.jpg)
There was no sign of the priest anywhere for two days. But then on Tuesday, some of the balloons that were part of his attempt were located, floating far out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Here is a photo taken of the balloons right after they were found at sea:
(http://static-p-a.comcast.net/api/assets/bin-200804/838541bb9772e5ffa6bb533487475d94.jpg)
There is no trace of the priest to be found anywhere. It is feared that he has perished in his attempt to raise money to benefit the long haul truck drivers.
Here is a news report from the Associated Press about the tragedy:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/brazil_flying_priest
A local flight instructor said that he had warned the priest that upper winds in the area could carry him clear across the ocean to South Africa. However, the Priest ignored his warnings.
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As far as i know he is/was a very expirienced Skydiver, he should have jumped away and left the Balloons alone
the moment he realized he was moving the wrong way towards the Ocean...
But who knows what really happened...
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As far as i know he is/was a very expirienced Skydiver, he should have jumped away and left the Balloons alone
the moment he realized he was moving the wrong way towards the Ocean...
But who knows what really happened...
What if he couldn't see the ocean due to the clouds?
Either way, the fish ate well no doubt. :salute
He's in Cod's hands...
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I could think of a dozen different things to say, but they'd all be wrong. Godspeed Father DiCarli, may you find fair weather and a good tail wind.
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I could think of a dozen different things to say, but they'd all be wrong. Godspeed Father DiCarli, may you find fair weather and a good tail wind.
Funny, I can think of a dozen things you HAVE said, and they were also wrong. :D :angel:
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Funny, I can think of a dozen things you HAVE said, and they were also wrong. :D :angel:
only a dozen?
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Any info on how high he got? Perhaps he was too high to breath without oxygen and died before he could decide to jump. Did he even have a chute?
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Yeah..I have been biting my tongue for a while on this one too.
Wanted to say "Darwin Award winner", but it just doesn't seem to fit, what with him being a priest and all. ;)
He's in Cod's hands...
LOL Rip, that will do!
RTR
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Is there a rule against being tethered?
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Doesn't the standard equipment requirement for this type of flight include a BB gun?
If he wasn't in conformance with his minimum equipment list, his CofA was invalid!
I hope they give him a hefty fine when they find him!
RTR
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Thought the last time they saw him he was over 2 miles in the air,
Heard somewhere that he tried this before, Guess he got his wish, He found out of there is a god or not.
Will say that if he did survive He should get a huge influx of members to his church. that must be almost prof that god exists... And likes stupid priests...
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Any info on how high he got? Perhaps he was too high to breath without oxygen and died before he could decide to jump. Did he even have a chute?
Yes, he indeed had a parachute, as the referenced news story mentioned.
I guess the only thing that this story illustrates is that there can be a danger in placing too much trust in God. A person still needs to use a little commonsense and reason.
The article also has people describing him as being a "headstrong, anxious individual who was always in a rush." Those are not good qualities to have, when you are dealing with aviation.
The other sad thing is that all of those long haul truck drivers taking shipments to the port will still not have a decent Christian rest stop where they can relax and study the scriptures. Hopefully people will still raise the money, build it, and hopefully even name it in honor of the priest.
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Wanted to say "Darwin Award winner", but it just doesn't seem to fit, what with him being a priest and all. ;)
RTR
No it fits just fine. Lucky for him stupid isn't a sin.
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He did this without a GPS unit? :huh
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My moneys on a russian mig-29 shooting him down. Russians are real stat-padders at the moment.
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he mocked the gods, and they are angry.
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Is there a rule against being tethered?
Probably. In cluster-ballooning (I've always wanted to try it), they use water for ballast and drain it off to climb. The BB gun is for descent, and steering is exactly like a hot air balloon... pick an altitude with the wind pointing the way you want, and off you go.
Looks fun as hell.
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Apparently, God wants the truckers to drink booze and watch strippers... If I was the Priest, I would be pretty ****** off when facing my Creator and I would ask Him if He really knows what he wants.
Seriously, Blue Skies to the guy...
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Did anyone seriously think he was gonna pull this off?
:huh
Mac
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Looks fun as hell.
Unless, of course, you die..........
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He did this without a GPS unit? :huh
No, he had both a GPS unit with him, and also a Satellite phone.
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Did anyone seriously think he was gonna pull this off?
:huh
Mac
Well, yes, he had actually tried this once before, last January 13th. He only used 600 balloons then, and only stayed aloft for a little over 4 hours, no where near the record. So he added more balloons this time. It is said that he used just over 1,000 balloons in this attempt.
In his previous attempt, he went to 17,390 feet. So this time, who knows how high he may have soared? It is doubtful that he did any calculations to figure this out in advance. He simply added 400 more balloons.
Doesn't it get difficult to breath at those higher altitudes? I have never been higher than 8,400 ft myself, so I don't have any experience with that. He did wear a thermal suit to help keep him warm.
This will no doubt remain a mystery, since any physical evidence now rests in the Atlantic Ocean.
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No, he had both a GPS unit with him, and also a Satellite phone.
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His last call was:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhh.......
*splash*
*Operator: "If you wish to place a call please hang up and dial again...." beep, beep, beeep*
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Search is now suspended for balloon priest, tells CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/24/priest.balloons.ap/index.html
Marcio Andre Lichtnow (his former Paragliding Instructor) said the priest phoned him days before liftoff.
"I told him that the winds would carry him all the way to South Africa," Lichtnow said. "
He said he had studied everything very carefully and that he would go ahead.
I honestly thought he was joking."
strange, how can you prepaire your flight plan so carefully but ending up flying
to the opposite direction?
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vaya con dios