Two pilots soaring over the Pacific Ocean made history on Thursday, first matching and then surpassing the 8,383-kilometerofficial world distance record for human flight in a gas balloon.
“There it is! There it is!” shouted team members at the flight’s mission control in Albuquerque in New Mexico as a giant screen showed the helium-filled Two Eagles balloon passing the record set by the Double Eagle V in 1981.
The balloon was about 400 miles northwest of San Francisco when it hit the mark. Everyone inside the control room had their smartphones pointed at the screen to document the moment.
In a matter of hours, they hit another milestone in similar fashion when they reached the 8,465—kilometermark. That’s the distance 1 percent more than the current record they needed to meet in their quest to establish a record under international aviation rules.
The distance still has to be confirmed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, a process that can take weeks.
The Two Eagles pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, are aiming to set both distance and duration records with their flight from Saga, Japan, which began shortly before 6.30 a.m. Sunday Japan time.
The duration record was set in 1978 when Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman made the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight.
That record of 137 hours, 5 minutes and 50 seconds in the air in a traditional gas balloon is considered the “holy grail” of ballooning achievements. The Two Eagles team expected to surpass that Friday morning.
“It’s a pretty sophisticated dance up there,” said Ray Bair, a member of the mission control team.
Rather than head to Canada, they’re aiming for the peninsula of Baja California, where volunteer chase crews were being organised to help with the landing.
Sand dunes along the peninsula were looking like the best option, Bair said. There are more favourable spots immediately along the Mexican mainland, but then come the mountains.AP
