ML139384
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Jetta Schantz, Rob Schantz. Timecode In: 00:00:04. Timecode out: 00:48:59. Notes: Hot air ballooning. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Split track. NPR/NGS RADIO EXPEDITIONS Show: Geographic Century Log of DAT #: Schantz Date: 3/24/99 DS 1:54 Let me first start off by getting your names and what each of you do. RS 1:59 Okay, well my name is Rob Schantz, that¿s S-C-H-A-N-T-Z, and we¿re in the hot air balloon business. We promote balloon events. I sell balloon insurance and we fly corporate contracts. JS 2:15 And we sell balloon rides. And I¿m Jetta, J-E-T-T-A Schantz, S-C-H-A-N-T-Z, and I work with my husband Rob on all those aspects he just mentioned and I also hold 27 national and 27 world records in hot air ballooning. DS 2:35 Jetta, I have to ask you. Was Jetta always your name? JS 2:37 Yes, it was. Little did my mother know where my paths would lead. It¿s a great aviation name. DS 2:44 Well, let me ask either one or both of you. What¿s your take on Piccard and Jones? Are you just a little bit surprised that somebody finally did it? RS 2:53 I am excited that it was done and nobody got hurt in the whole process. There was so much luck involved in what they did. The odds, according, I was involved with one of the other teams as a search and rescue coordinator that did not get off the ground this winter. They did last winter. And our weatherman, Bob Rice, who is literally the best in the world, you know, said, ¿Basically, it¿s a 1 in a hundred chance for this to happen, because you¿re so far out in advance and you cannot predict the weather.¿ And if you talk to either one of those guys that made it, they¿ll tell you, they were lucky. There was so much luck, they had the equipment, you know, but.. JS 3:34 They had the skill, they had the technology, but the weather is what¿s defeated everyone so far, until them. It¿s so exciting. ¿technical tinkering¿ DS 5:42 You know, Jetta, I missed kind of part of what you said. Could you reconstruct what you followed on Rob saying? Were you surprised that somebody finally made it and I think Rob said it was a lot of luck for one thing. JS 5:58 Oh, it was certainly a lot of luck but luck in the sense of the weather conditions. The, Bertrand and Brian, who just successfully completed the flight had all the technology and skill needed to accomplish the feat, just like so many of the others that had tried, but weather conditions were what brought almost every single attempt before down. It was either a technical malfunction or difficulty or weather, but most often weather, and they just got lucky and got the right weather pattern. And we¿re all, I think everyone in the sport of ballooning worldwide is just as excited as can be that this finally happened. The last great challenge in all of aviation. DS 6:39 So you¿re saying that all the other attempts, and there were so many, really, the reason that they didn¿t make it and these folks did was weather. JS 6:48 Sometimes it was technical problems, especially with some of the early attempts, but many times it was weather that forced people to come down. DS 6:58 Do you feel badly at all about the others, Steve Fossett? RS 7:02 No, I, Steve is a really, I know Steve personally, and really a great person and a great individual and, you know, he tried five times and he¿s an adventurer, and he gave it his best shot and he just didn¿t make it and Branson and Paralindstrom were the same. It¿s one of those things. I guess I¿m sort of, it¿s an odd situation that the two guys that made it were both doctors and I guess they¿re both psychiatrists and they were using self-hypnosis and so forth, I just think it¿s great that that happened and they¿re just really two laid back guys, as is Fossett and them, but they didn¿t really have the money that Bran... (Notes truncated)
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- Cataloged
- 21 Jul 2005 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 21 Jul 2005 - Ben Brotman
- Edited
- 21 Jul 2005 - Ben Brotman