On 4/14/12 we flew an APM2 ardupilot in a balloon to over 100000 feet for 7 1/2 hour 300 mile + flight !

The flight originated near Albuquerque NM and landed near Trinchera ,CO. The flight was over 300 miles and lasted far longer than we planned. The flight was so long the 5 on board cameras ran out of memory and battery before the flight ended.

The chase crew went 225 miles before giving up because there was no data from the Digi M10 Satellite modem. The crew was almost back into Albuquerque when all of the sudden three phones got e-mails from the Digie modem at the same time.

ET CALLED HOME !!!

It gave us the Lat, long, and altitude of where it was. Several emails later we realized the package landed. We quickly put the coordinates into google maps and could not believe where it was ! It was in Colorado! And it landed 7 1/2 hours after launch !

I will download the data from the APM2 SD card and see the flight.

Here are some pictures.

Could have landed here in Colorado

But it landed 10 miles further 50 feet from the edge of a farm road !

Some of the equipment flown...

I will post more pics and some videos later when I get back to Albuquerque. My car motor seized up out in the boonies right after retrieving the package. Got to get rental car and find way to get new motor in 2006 Saturn Vue.

Earl