Hopes soar as balloon nears journey's end

TWO PILOTS attempting to be the first to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon were last night on course to break the record for the longest balloon flight.

By the early hours of this morning Brian Jones, from Wiltshire, and his Swiss co-pilot, Bertrand Piccard, will have been in the air for 18 days, beating the previous record of 17 days and 18 hours set by the Cable & Wireless team earlier this month.

If all goes according to plan, the Breitling Orbiter 3, which was last night heading out across the Atlantic, will cross 9.27 degrees longitude over Mauritania tomorrow evening, setting the circumnavigation record.

The pair had been hoping to reach the finish line a little earlier but strong winds on Wednesday night caused the balloon to drift in a southerly direction and they lost half a day. During the night the balloon also used more fuel than on previous nights.

Alan Noble, the Breitling flight director, said he hoped it was a one- off problem caused by the balloon passing through a few clouds and that there would still be enough fuel to complete the flight.

Luc Trullemans, a Belgian meteorologist who is helping to guide the pilots on their journey, said: "The balloon had deviated too far south and was not following the winds we had planned for it. The adventure was nearly over.

"I said to people around me in the control room at midnight GMT that six more hours flying like that and it would have been over."

He added that Mr Piccard, 41, had undergone hypnosis over the radio to help him overcome the stress of the journey.

"Bertrand spoke under hypnosis to a medical friend in Lausanne who boosted his morale. He also got more oxygen and the stress diminished," he said.

Victoria Osborne, a spokeswoman for the team, said Mr Jones, 51, and Mr Piccard were both now extremely tired but quietly confident.

"We are calculating how much fuel they have, and whether, if there is enough to complete the journey, they will be able to fly on to Egypt and land there in daylight," she said.

"We were quite worried about them on Wednesday because they had spent six days crossing over the Pacific and had no communication with us for four days because of technical problems.

"They were feeling very strained but after being able to talk to their wives and have a sleep while they were over land they started feeling much better and are ready to set off across the Atlantic."

The balloon was travelling at just over 55 knots yesterday, and speeding up as it approached the Atlantic winds, at an altitude of almost 35,000ft.

The pilots have flown more than 20,825 miles since taking off from Chateau d'Oex, in Switzerland, on 1 March.