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Imagine as a child, you thought, if you could just get enough helium balloons, could you float away?
试想，假如你小时候就曾想过，如果你有足够多的氦气球的话是不是就能飞起来了？
And we're normally told, no, that's not possible.
我们通常听到的答案都是，“不会，那是不可能的。
You're not going to be able to fly with the helium balloons.
用氦气球是飞不起来的。”
But I revisited that idea as an adult.
成年后，我又重新考虑了这个想法。
And I argued if one balloon provides some unit of lift, why wouldn't we be able to scale that?
在我看来，如果一个气球也能提供一定的升力，那我们为什么不能把它规模化？
And that's what we're doing.
我们正在做的就是这件事。
"I'm flying my chair."
“我坐着椅子飞起来了。”
My name is Trappe and I am a technical projects manager at a large IT consulting firm as a day job.
我叫特拉普，职业是一家大型IT咨询公司的技术项目经理。
But I have a unusual passion hobby...
但我还有一个特殊爱好……
which is to take helium balloons, toy helium balloons, and assemble them in massive clusters for manned flight.
就是把氦气球，玩具用的那种氦气球，大批量组装到一起用于载人飞行。
These are balloons that were never intended to support manned flight, but that's what we've caused them to do.
这些气球根本就不是用来载人飞行的，但我们偏就这么干了。
"17,100, still climbing."
“17100英尺了，还在上升。”
That passion has carried me aloft on more than a dozen flights across as many years.
这个激情已经驱使我完成了十多次的航行，时间上也有些年头了。
Sometimes it's just me, just my body in a tiny little harness, sometimes we're flying bigger things, I've flown houses.
有的时候就我一个人，就我的身体套在一个小小的座位里，有的时候也会我飞大一些的东西，比如房子什么的。
What a thing to say, I've flown houses, two of them.
怎么说呢，我还真飞过房子，还飞过两次。
We were flying these toy helium balloons before the Disney Pixar film "Up."
我用这些玩具氦气球载人飞行的时候，迪士尼还没和皮克斯拍《飞屋环游记》呢。
But I will say this, that the film "Up" also inspired us.
但我还是要说，那部电影也给了我们一些灵感。
Now, the idea of flying a house under toy helium balloons absolutely came from the Disney Pixar film.
现在的话，用玩具氦气球载着房子飞行的创意绝对要数迪斯尼·皮克斯的那部电影了。
One of the things I love about flying these helium balloons is they have the capability for real expedition level flights.
我喜欢飞这些氦气球，原因之一在于它们能让你体验到什么是真正的探险级飞行。
What I'm talking about is flights of 23,000 feet in an open gondola carried only by helium balloons.
我说的是23000英尺这种高度的飞行，坐的还是仅由氦气球带动的一个四面敞开的一个小船。
"13,000 feet, as we cross the Alps."
“13000英尺，我们正在翻越阿尔卑斯山。”
It varies from a small cluster, top a dozen balloons to extraordinarily large towering clusters, 365 of these massive balloons.
用的气球的数量也不一定，有的时候就几个，最多十来个，有的时候就是超级大一堆，比如365个超级大的气球这种。
We've flown clusters for 10 hours, 12 hours, 14 hours.
有时候一飞就是10个小时，12个小时甚至是14个小时。
The longest we've ever flown in a single flight, 466 miles.
我们单次飞行最久的一次是飞了466英里。
When I take off, I don't know where I'm going to put down.
起飞的时候我都不知道自己会降落在哪里。
I'll select a safe place to land in flight,
在空中的时候我会选一个安全的地方着陆，
but I'm flying hundreds of miles without knowing exactly where I'll land.
但我这一次飞了几百英里了都不知道自己要在哪儿降落。
"We're good, we're down."
“我们很好，我们下来了。”
So it's a mix of art and science.
这事儿它既有艺术的一面，也有科学的一面。
The art is the colorful cluster appealing balloons, but the science is, it is quite serious and I treat it seriously.
艺术的是那些五颜六色的气球，科学的一面是这件事其实是很严肃的一件事情，我自己的态度也是很认真的。
There's human life at stake, my life and the lives of those I share the sky with and the lives of those under me.
因为涉及到生命安全，我自己的安全，还有和我一起在天上飞的那些生命的安全，还有我脚下的那些生命的安全。
"Hello, how are you?"
“你好，你好吗？”
We work with the Federal Aviation Administration in terms of getting the aircraft certified.
我们和联邦航空管理局达成了合作，拿到了飞行许可。
"London, this is Gas Balloon calling to activate my flight plan."
“伦敦，我是气球，呼叫激活我的飞行计划。”
It took me about a year to go to flight school, get a pilots license.
我用了大约一年的时间上飞行学校，拿了飞行员执照。
And after about a year of tests and training and certifications, we made our first flight.
之后又经过了大约一年的测试、培训和认证才开始飞的。
I'm using my standard office chair as my gondola for that flight.
那一次，我坐的飞船是标准的办公室座椅。
When you're up there, it's not just leisure and relaxation.
在上面你不仅会有休闲和放松的感觉。
You're floating away.
你还会感觉到自己正在飘走。
You have moments of that, but there's a lot more time spent thinking, okay, am I heading the right direction?
会有这种感觉的，但更多的时候其实是在思考，我方向是对的吧？
Do I have any airspace where obstacles in front of me?
我前面有没有空地儿，有没有障碍物？
"Okay, we're climbing 120, right at 18,000 feet.
“我们又上升了120英尺，现在已经18000英尺了。
So just trying to get this guy to a zero pressure figure."
现在我准备把这玩意儿的压力给它降到零了。”
You have to fly the aircraft.
你必须会驾驶飞机。
If I'm climbing and I need to initiate a descent, I need to vent helium.
如果我正在攀升，但我需要下降，那我就需要放一些氦气出去。
Balloons are bio degradable.
这些气球都是可生物降解的。
So we can also cut the balloons away, cut away individual balloons.
所以，我们可以直接剪断一部分气球，剪掉个别的气球。
So there's a whole calculation and it changes every flight, depending on what I'm flying.
是会涉及到各种计算的，而且每次飞行情况还都不一样，具体还要看我坐的是个什么东西。
The feeling of launching is unparalleled, it's not like anything else.
起飞的感觉是无与伦比的，那种感觉是其他任何事都比不了的。
To fly an aircraft that's completely silent, makes no sound.
驾驶一架完全没有声音的飞机，不会发出任何的声音。
"We're approaching sunset.
“马上就要日落了。
It's really beautiful out there."
外面真的很美。”
There's no rotor, there's no prop, there's no jet.
没有旋翼，没有螺旋桨，没有喷嘴。
There's no burner like a hot air balloon.
也没有热气球那样的燃烧器。
There's no roar of wind like you get in a glider.
没有坐滑翔机那样的狂风咆哮。
It's completely silent. Like...
就一点儿声音也没有。就……
"Listen. There's no sound."
“你听。一点儿声音也没有。”
So what's the whole point of this.
那么，这一切到底有什么意义呢？
Why do it?
我为什么要做这件事呢？
It's to lead an interesting life.
为了过一种有趣的生活。
"That is the most beautiful moonrise I've seen in my entire life."
“这是我一生中见过的最美的月升时刻。”
It enriches my life to look back and reflect on what we've accomplished.
这些经历也丰富了我的生活，当我回过头来重新审视我们的成就。
I have all of those moments as prized memories to keep me warm in my old age.
这些瞬间就成了温暖我晚年时光的珍贵回忆。
