General

Final Results published after debriefing all teams

BEL 1 pilots are back in Europe! Ronny and Luc, and also the pilots from FIN1 did come back to Europe (Marseille) overnight. Before the trip, they packed their balloons carefully and arranged also shipment for the equipment. Ronny and Luc are heading for Geneva now for the debriefing and closing ceremony tomorrow Saturday. End good, all good! ... Read more ....

The French team (FRA1) won the “53e Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett”, after 4 days of flight, landing near the airport of Lagos, in the extreme south-west of Portugal.Sébastien ROLLAND and Vincent LEYS have flown 1587 km,overtaking the Swiss 1 team of 17 km!  As required by the rules, France will be the organizer of the 55th Coupe Aéronautique... Read more ....

The pilots and the complete team of the BELGICA II want to congratulate Sébastien and Vincent (FRA1) and all the competitors at this 53th Gordon Bennett for their achievements. It was an unbelievable exciting race with plucky landings on difficult places. Our pilots would be happy to be in Spain or Portugal too but at the same time they are proud... Read more ....

The 53th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett in the press: Online articles: F.A.I. – Leys and Rolland win the 53rd Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett Het Laatste Nieuws – Belgische ballonvaarders op weg naar Portugal stranden ten oosten van Algiers Het Nieuwsblad – Belgische ballonvaarders landen onverwacht in Algerije Sportwereld... Read more ....

09.09.2009 12:00 loc / 10:00 UTC Team FRA landed in Portugal With the safe landing of the last team – Sébastien Rolland / Vincent Leys – the 53e. Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett came to an end. What an epic race. Bravo à lous les équipages. Pilots and teams well done. You all promoted gasballooning in the best possible way. We are... Read more ....

All teams safely landed now. FRA 1, Sébastien Rolland and Vincent Lëys, just confirmed safe landing in Portugal, Lagos Airport area. Congratulations to all teams!

While our good friends Vincent and Sébastien (team FRA1) are still in the air trying to get a little bit farther than the already fantastic result of SUI1 our team is preparing for a trip to Algiers. From Algiers, they will try to get onto a ferry to Marseille… it seems that they’re not yet home but everything looks well coordinated by the ambassadors... Read more ....

SWI1 is down… well done Kurt & Pascal,Eduard Spelterini would be very happy. But the race is still going on with two more teams aloft…   09.09.2009 0430: Team SUI 1 (Frieden/Witpraechtiger) landed safely  Kurt Frieden called to report about a safe landing. The two pilots had finished their race across Europe in huge eucalyptus... Read more ....

Sit down and enjoy… (by double-clicking on the playing movies you can watch them in fullscreen mode!) Balloons Gordon Bennett 2009 Start BEL1 (Van Havere / Van Geyte) Start FIN1 (Luoma / Mattsson) Start FRA1 Golden Eyes (Rolland / Lëys) Preparation Golden Eyes Start FRA2 (Villey-Desmeserets / Pelard) & Homage to Serge Cuhat Start... Read more ....