Balloon set to land in Burma
World record for longest flight
The Breitling Orbiter 2
balloon plans to touch down
in Burma today after its
European crew abandoned
hopes of circling the world, its
press service said in Geneva.
By staying aloft until this
evening, the balloon - which
left Switzerland on January 28
- will be able to claim the
world record for the longest
flight ever made without
refuelling.
The Burmese government
yesterday granted the
European balloonist team
permission to land on its
territory after they abandoned
a round-the-world bid, officials
said.
"Approval has been given for
the overfly and landing of the
balloon in Burma and we will
also provide necessary
assistance to ensure their
success," an official
statement said.
The team abandoned their
attempt to circle the world
non-stop on Wednesday after
China refused to grant
permission for the craft to
overfly its territory, organisers
said.
The authorities in Rangoon
received a request yesterday
from the team to cross into
their air space and land in
Burma.
"The trip around the world is
definitely over," a spokesman
for the ground team in
Geneva said.
The ground team said the
balloon was heading from
India to northern Thailand on
its way to Burma yesterday,
but Thai authorities denied
having received an overflight
request.
Permanent Secretary for
Transport and
Communications Mahidol
Chantrangkul said Thailand
was ready to give the
balloonists any ground
support if requested.
A Tourism Authority of
Thailand official said the
country was more than glad to
receive the balloonists. He
believed the presence of the
team would help promote the
Thai image and boost
tourism.
China's official reason for not
allowing the crossing was
"civil security," but foreign
experts said the refusal was
instigated by the People's
Liberation Army to prevent
any risk of spying.
The Swiss team, like their
rivals seeking "the last great
aviation record", had hoped to
benefit from the fast jet
stream which traverses
Chinese air space towards
the Pacific Ocean at more
than 230 kilometres per hour.
However, this would entail
rising to a height of 9,500
metres and using the same
air corridors as commercial
airliners.
"Air safety is not the real
reason, because you can
always alert the airlines and
control the routes for the 24
hours" needed to get the
balloon across China, an
aeronautics expert said.
"The real motive for refusing
comes from the army, which
is in sole charge of the skies
over China, and which
imagines spies everywhere."
The Swiss team had hoped to
use the jet stream over China
to reach California in five days
and north Africa in another
four, breaking the record after
a 25,000 kilometre
round-the-world flight.
It was the 14th attempt to
circle the world by balloon
non-stop in the past two
years.
However, the Breitling Orbiter
2 would remain aloft in a bid
to break another world record
- the longest unrefuelled flight
by an aircraft, the spokesman
said.
It has already broken the
world endurance record for
balloon flight which had
previously stood to the
American Steve Fosset at 146
hours and 44 minutes.
Swiss national Bertrand
Piccard and his team
members, Belgian Wim
Verstraeten and Briton Andy
Elson, left Chateau-d'Oex,
Switzerland, on January 28 in
what was the fifth attempt to
fly around the world non-stop
in a balloon since last
December.
The trio have since flown
some 6,000 kilometres over
France, Italy, Greece, Turkey,
Syria, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.
- Reuters/Bangkok Post