The NightStar Project

During 2000, the NightStar Project was organized. Headed up by pilots Bill Cloninger and Debby Young, this effort sought to challenge the Aviation World Records for Distance and Duration of Flight in an AX5 category hot air balloon (maximum volume 42,000 cubic feet).

NightStar I On Friday evening, February 9, Bill Cloninger launched the NightStar balloon from Lincoln County Airport in Tea, South Dakota under a full moon and flew for 12 hours 21 minutes and 36 seconds setting a new AX5 World Record for Duration of Flight.

NightStar II Seventeen days later, on February 26, Debby Young launched the NightStar balloon at dawn from Ottumwa, IA and flew 9 hours 32 minutes and 41 seconds covering a distance of approximately 170 miles setting two new AX5 Feminine World Records, Distance and Duration of Flight.

The Aircraft

The NightStar hot air balloon is 42,000 cubic feet in volume, approximately half the size of a typical sport hot air balloon. Manufactured by Aerostar International, this balloon features double wall construction. The addition of an inner wall creates an insulation layer that significantly retards heat loss and fuel consumption rates. In addition, this inner wall or liner also protects the outer wall from heat allowing higher internal temperatures, which in turn enables the balloon to carry increased weight. The silver fabric in the photo below is the inner wall or liner.

The NightStar balloon was equipped with an Aerostar "G" type basket. This basket, while essentially just an aluminum frame, has the structural strength to carry many heavy fuel tanks. The photo below shows the basket being outfitted with tanks at the Aerostar factory. The basket was lined with an aluminized mylar "space blanket" that during flight retained a significant amount of radiant burner heat making the sub-zero air temperatures tolerable.

For this project, Aerostar built an experimental burner pictured below. The objective for this prototype was to provide the redundancy of a double burner with the weight of a single burner.

About Aviation World Records

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) based in Geneva, Switzerland is the world Aero Club that governs international competitions and aviation and aerospace world records. The United States is represented in the FAI by the National Aeronautics Association (NAA). In order to attempt to set a new world record in the US, the sanction of the NAA must be first obtained. This sanction allows the holder the exclusive right to challenge a specific record within a specified time frame, usually not more than 90 days. The NAA appoints an observer to participate with the flight team and if the flight is successful document the record claim. These claims are then reviewed by the NAA and once approved are forwarded to the FAI for approval and recording. This process usually takes 120 days or so, before the record claim officially becomes a new World Record.

NightStar Team Roster