David Levin

David Levin medal table
David Levin (2015)
Ballooning
United States
World championships
gold	1985 Battle Creek	Hot air balloon
bronze	1995 Battle Creek	Hot air balloon
World championships
gold	1992 Obertraun	Gas balloon
silver	1996 Bitterfeld	Gas balloon
bronze	1988 Augsburg	Gas balloon
bronze	2004 Bitterfeld	Gas balloon
Gordon Bennett Cup
gold	1992 Stuttgart	Gas balloon
silver	1997 Warstein	Gas balloon
bronze	1986 Salzburg	Gas balloon
bronze	1988 Bregenz	Gas balloon
bronze	2004 Thionville	Gas balloon
US championships
gold	1987	Gas balloon
gold	1989	Gas balloon
gold	1993	Gas balloon

David Levin (born June 10, 1948 in Newark (New Jersey) , † May 13, 2017 in Boulder (Colorado) ) was an American balloonist . He is the only "three crown" pilot ( English triple crown ) who was both world champion in hot air and gas balloon and won the famous Gordon Bennett race .

Athletic career

As a law student before his exams, Levin made his first balloon ride as a guest in 1975. The following year he became co-owner of the Balloon Ranch in Colorado and has since participated in countless competitions and many world championships. He rode in both a hot air balloon and a gas balloon. Since 2002 he has participated in other competitions as a steward or organized them as (Deputy) Event Director .

1992 won Levin in Obertraun (Austria) with Jim Schiller, the FAI World Gas Balloon Championship (Gas Balloon World Championship FAI ). In 1996 and 2004 he came second and third in Bitterfeld with Mark Sullivan, and in 1988 in Augsburg with Jacques Soukoup on the bronze podium.

While there are a number of tasks to drive at the World Championships, the Gordon Bennett Race is about covering the greatest possible distance. Depending on the weather, the participants are usually in the air for several days and often cover great distances. On September 19, 1992 Levin and James Herschend took off from Stuttgart , after 45:36 hours they had covered 964.19 kilometers to the landing site near Przemyśl (Poland). It was the first US victory in 60 years in the 36th edition of this balloon competition and remained the only post-war success of the Americans until the 48th race in 2004.

In 1987, 1988 and 1993 he won the US gas balloon championships and in 1996 and 2000 the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race . In 2000, he and his brother drove miles from Albuquerque , New Mexico to the coast of Maine .

Levin was inducted into the US Ballooning Hall of Fame in 2017 with Steve Fossett . Located in the National Balloon Museum in Indianola , Iowa, this Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to ballooning and ballooning development.

Successes (selection)

• 1985 Gold World Championship Battle Creek - hot air balloon
• 1985 4th place GBR Geneva - gas balloon
• 1986 Bronze GBR Salzburg - gas balloon
• 1988 bronze WM Augsburg - gas balloon
• 1988 Bronze GBR Bregenz - gas balloon
• 1992 Gold WM Obertraun - gas balloon
• 1992 Gold GBR Stuttgart - gas balloon
• 1995 Gold World Championships Battle Creek - hot air balloon
• 1995 4th place GBR Wil - gas balloon
• 1996 silver WM Bitterfeld - gas balloon
• 1997 Silver GBR Warstein - gas balloon
• 2001 4th place GBR Warstein - gas balloon
• 2004 Bronze WM Bitterfeld - gas balloon
• 2004 Bronze GBR Thionville - gas balloon

Life

Levin received his BA in Business Administration from Boston University in 1971 . There he received his doctorate in law in 1975 and added a Master of Laws in tax law the following year . He then became a private investor. Levin was married and had twins, a boy and a girl.

Individual proof

1. ^ William Grimes : David Levin, the Only Triple Crown Balloonist, Dies at 68 . ( The New York Times , May 18, 2017)