Quick facts

• Total flight time was 4:30 (3:45 ascent)
• The balloon travelled 187 miles (as the crow flies) during flight!
• Using a couple different methods to calculate ascent rate, peak altitude was somewhere between 95k and 99k feet!

About Vertigo

This page is dedicated to a project nick-named "Vertigo".
Please direct all questions to support@nak5.com

I was initially inspired to do this after reading about these guys. This first iteration was basically a duplication of their flight with a few personal touches. For starters, they used a single cooler as the housing for both camera and cell phone. In looking for a way to stabilize the camera, I decided to suspend the phone below, to act as ballast. The pictures taken during the ascent seemed very stable, so I would call that a success!

It's an understatement to say that I was pleased with the results. When I let go of the balloon, I pretty much accepted the fact I would never see it again. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, be it the cell phone not reporting location, the entire rig getting destroyed, landing in a river, causing a car accident, me going to prison, etc. After launch, I decided to go about my business, get some lunch, and take a nap. Just about the time I had given up hope, I checked the tracking website and VOILA! I had a single accurate GPS location logged...wait...187 miles away!

Two things went through my head. 1) "Ah, crap. I hate road trips." 2) "I can't believe this actually worked."

By this point it was around 2:30pm and by the time i got my stuff together, said goodbye to the wife and got out the door it would have been too late and too dark where it had landed. So I had to act fast. I immediately jumped on Google Maps and found a neighborhood right next to the field it had landed in. I did reverse search on the closest street name and got a list names and numbers. After I called a handful of them, a very nice lady picked up. I had to explain it quick before she thought I was crazy, but she walked out of her front door and to the edge of the field and said surprisingly, "You know, I think I do see something." I was relieved. She stashed it in her garage (after I convinced her it wasn't dangerous) and I drove out the next day to get it.

Below, are a select number of the pictures I recovered from the camera. It had taken over a thousand shots during flight and an additional 900 or so on the ground. Enjoy!