A Hot-Air Balloon overflight of the Black Sea is an outstanding event in world aviation history! It is also a unique adventure in the world history of extreme sports! No one in the world has yet to fly over the Black Sea! Time of event – October 2010

Idea and previous organization by:
The First Aeronautic Club (Georgia)
Kyiv Ballooning Society (Ukraine)
Kubicek Hot-Air Balloons & Airships (Czech Republic)

Co-organizers and participants:
Ballooning Centre (Lithuania)
Avgur Aeronautic Centre (Russian Federation)
The Black Sea Contest Club (Ukraine)

The hot air balloon will fly from Ukraine to Georgia. It will take off in the south of the Crimean Peninsula and land near the city of Batumi.
The length of the flight is around 900 km.
Altitude – from 100 to 3,500 m above sea level.
Time of flight over the open sea – up to 24 hours.
Aircraft – AX14 hot air balloon with an envelope volume of 14 200 m³.

The project is also unique in terms of flight conditions. There is no direct air current capable of carrying a hot air balloon from one shore of the Black Sea to another. Special synoptic conditions are required for the flight: the simultaneous appearance of two cyclones in the south of Russia and in Rumania moving from northwest to southeast. Only in the corridor between these two air movements, “dovetailed” by pressure from two sides, will the balloon be able, by constantly changing altitude in search of the maximum speed, to reach the designated landing site.

This undertaking requires top professionalism from all the participants, so the best aviation specialists and hydro physicists from Europe, each of whom is an outstanding individual, have joined forces to bring this project to fruition.

The flight control center is located in the Crimea. It boasts experienced aviators, meteorologists, navigators, and operators. Their task is to draw up a weather report along the route, calculate the flight path, and send this information to those on board the hot air balloon; if necessary, they will also supervise sea rescue maneuvers. Two auxiliary centers are based on the Black Sea coast of Georgia and Turkey.

The government’s assistance is required for successful performance of the flight. The civil aviation administration of Ukraine and Georgia, as well as flight navigation and aeronautical meteorology services are participating in the project and rendering the organizers every possible assistance.

The task of the organizers is to establish the world sporting achivment and at the same time set a positive and vibrant example of cooperation among European countries both in the sky and on the ground for their own people and the world community as a whole.