Core team Celebrates 10 years.

Nov 2021

10 years ago Robert Brand & Jason Brand successfully completed their first stratospheric flight (unmanned of course!). It was successful due to extensive research and careful work. In fact a month earlier they travelled to central NSW and returned without trying to fly simply because they were not happy with a data connector on the tracker. It is why they have completed 50 flights without ever losing a payload! That takes some planning and has created some unique recovery situations. It is without doubt been a great start to Flight Design that has now become a successful company focused on Australia’s defence. Flight Design has been created from 10 years of international flights and experience and is open to working with non defence companies and individuals and support mentoring and work with schools.

Robert and Jason’s first flight was from Rankins Springs in central southern NSW in Nov 2021. It is a town of fewer than 200 hundred people. It has been a focus of their balloon release history. They have worked to support the local primary school and also are thankful for the support from them. It is a great town and one that the locals take great pride.

Rankins Springs is an hour’s drive to the west from West Wyalong in NSW. Why so far west from Sydney? Simply because of mountains, pine forests, inaccessible valleys and the ocean. The jet stream has often taken our payloads to the east at speeds up to 312kph. Landing in wheat fields with few trees is simpler than the alternative.

The first flight was a great introduction to the wonders of the Stratosphere and our central NSW farmland. The recovery was simple and they stopped the car 15m short of where the GPS indicated that the payload was positioned. It was in fact right there, but could not be seen. It had disappeared into the spaces between the low lying plants in the field. Another lesson for the future.

Below is a picture of Jason about to release the first payload. The photos were great, and we reached an altitude of over 26km. – a quarter the way to space.

The link below is a story from the Sydney Morning Herald on the flight. Stratospheric flights were rare at the time. Flight Design does not approve of calling the Stratosphere “space”. This was the SMH editor’s spin on the flight. There are pictures from the flight on the link. https://www.smh.com.au/technology/sydneys-very-own-space-agency-brand-and-son-20120116-1q26j.html