For science, exploration and whiskey: Trio plan transatlantic trip in balloon from Presque Isle 

Bert Padelt has nurtured a dream of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon for five decades and next summer, he will begin his epic journey as a balloon co-pilot in Presque Isle. 

“Flying a balloon across the Atlantic has been a goal of mine since I was probably 13, 12 or 13 years old,” said Padelt, 62, speaking Thursday from his workshop in Bally, Penn. 

Padelt will join two other men — Sir David Hempleman-Adams, 66, of England, and Dr. Frederik Paulsen, 72, of Switzerland. The trio is planning to take off in June 2024 from Presque Isle, then land in Europe, all in the name of exploration, science, and Scotch whiskey. 

The three will be packed into the basket dangling from a hydrogen balloon. The concept is not unlike a hot-air balloon, but in this case, rather than using a burner to heat ordinary air, the balloon will be sealed and full of hydrogen – no burner required. 

“The gas is just lighter than air,” Padelt said. “It’s like a toy balloon that’s filled with helium.” 

The basket will also be larger than that of a traditional hot-air balloon. It will be about six feet long and five feet wide, large enough for a pair of small cots for sleeping. 

“It’s like camping in the sky, is what it is,” Padelt said. 

The voyage will take as long as five days to complete. If successful, the trip will be the first of its kind for an open-basket hydrogen balloon, though other types of balloons have made the trip in the past. Padelt said Presque Isle is an ideal launch point, as it is the northernmost launch point available on the US east coast. It was also the launch point of the first transatlantic balloon crossing ever, in a helium balloon, back in 1978. 

Padelt said he has always been interested in making and working with gas balloons. He served on a ground crew for adventurer Steve Fossett, who was the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean in a solo balloon flight. Padelt has also assisted Hempleman-Adams, either by building balloons or serving as ground crew, for many balloon flights, and called Hempleman-Adams’ assistance on this trip “sort of like payback from David.” 

Paulsen is a billionaire, explorer, scientist and entrepreneur. The trip is serving for him in part as marketing for his Scotch whiskey company, Torabhaig (pronounced TOR-vehg). According to a company statement, proceeds from bottles of whiskey commemorating the trip will be donated to a Gaelic language school on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.  

The trip will also serve as a scientific venture, according to Sarah Belizaire-Butler, a spokesperson for the company. The balloon will be traveling above sea level, but below traditional air traffic lanes, making it ideal for collecting air samples to study atmospheric conditions, microbes and other data, Padelt said. The data will be used in furthering research into medicine, biofuels and other new technologies. 

Initially, the plan was to launch this year, on Sept. 1, but that launch had to be scrubbed. 

“The weather never happened, unfortunately,” Padelt said. 

Ideally, a balloon should launch as a high-pressure system pushes down from Canada. Instead, Maine faced an unusual number of hurricanes and rainstorms before and after the launch date. 

“This year was odd,” Padelt said. “Very strange weather.” 

While the cancellation of the trip was tough for the team, they have chosen to call it a “dry run,” and are looking forward to making the planned voyage in June. They will have a team of eight people on the ground monitoring the craft, and two meteorologists assisting with weather updates.  

The ground team will also assist with landing. When asked where they plan to land, Padelt said, “somewhere in Europe.” Most likely, he said, the team will arrive in Germany or Poland, but once a balloon is in the air it’s impossible to predict exactly where it will eventually touch down. 

“Basically, what you are is a dust particle in the air,” he said. 

One thing that is for sure, especially for Padelt, is that the weather won’t deter him from his lifelong goal. 

“I’ve wanted to do this flight for 50 years,” he said.