The torrid pace of the 11th America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race has slowed a bit this evening as the nine teams still flying settle in for the night. The German/American team of Wilhelm Eimers and Greg Winker (Team 13) recently passed Barbara Fricke and Peter Cuneo (Team 3), the leaders for most of today. Eimers and Winker have now passed the 900-mile mark. And there’s plenty of flying (and landing!) drama still to come when the sun rises over the American South in the morning.
Four teams are now confirmed as having landed: Team 2 (Tom Donnelly and Colin Butter of Great Britain), Team 6 (John Kugler and Dennis Brown of the U.S.), Team 10 (Mark Sullivan and Frank Wechter, U.S.), and Team 11 (Ruth Lind and John Davis, U.S.). The America’s Challenge Command Center reports teams as landed once it has a confirmed landing report from the pilots. Under the event rules, pilots have up to four hours to report they have landed.
