NEWS-European Balloonists to Return

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

European Balloonists to Return to Heroes' Welcome

               Reuters
               08-FEB-98
               By Stephanie Nebehay 

               GENEVA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Three
               European balloonists, whose
               round-the-world attempt ended in a
               rice field in Myanmar (Burma), were
               expected to return to a heroes'
               welcome at Geneva's airport on
               Sunday, organisers said. 

               Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard,
               Belgian pilot and businessman Wim
               Verstraeten and British flight
               engineer Andy Elson broke two world
               records while spending nine days, 17
               hours and 55 minutes aloft in the
               Breitling Orbiter 2. 

               China's refusal to grant overflight
               rights, which would have allowed the
               balloon to catch high-speed
               jetstream winds, forced the trio to
               abort their bid to circumnavigate the
               globe. Beijing later relented but it was
               too late to change course. 

               Piccard, a European aerobatic
               hang-gliding champion in his youth,
               has vowed to try again to capture the
               elusive title of being the first to circle
               the globe in a hot air balloon. 

               British tycoon Richard Branson, a
               rival in the friendly race which also
               includes U.S. millionaire Steve
               Fossett, said on Saturday he hoped
               to set off from Morocco in his Global
               Challenger again soon. 

               Breitling spokesman Gerard Sermier
               said the crew was due to touch down
               in a chartered Falcon 2000 plane at
               Geneva's Cointrin airport at about
               1415 GMT. 

               ``Airport officials have opened the
               terrace above the tarmac for the
               crowds we expect,'' he told Reuters. 

               The towering Breitling Orbiter 2
               made a soft landing in the Irrawaddy
               plains near the village of Othegon,
               120 km (72 miles) northwest of
               Yangon (Rangoon) on Saturday. 

               ``We had an unbelievable welcome
               in Myanmar,'' a tired Piccard told
               French-language Swiss television on
               Saturday evening. 

               ``We are proud and happy, but tired,''
               Verstraeten said. ``It is quite a
               change to be here in Myanmar, that's
               the least one can say. It's been a very
               warm welcome.'' 

               Swiss television said the Myanmar
               government put on a ``charm
               operation'' for the pilots and
               journalists. 

               The 53-metre (177-foot) tall
               aluminium-coated balloon did not
               empty quickly, leading villagers to
               use their swords and soldiers their
               guns to speed the process, Swiss
               television said. 

               Piccard joined in with his Swiss army
               knife. ``We didn't want to disinflate
               the balloon, we would have wanted to
               go on,'' said Piccard, 39, who lives
               with his wife Michele and three young
               daughters near Lausanne. ``Having
               to tear it apart was difficult.'' 

               A Breitling spokesman in Geneva
               said on Sunday: ``If the balloon
               doesn't disinflate it becomes
               uncontrollable, like a huge sail.
               However, the objective was to bring it
               back.'' 

               The orange six-tonne capsule, in
               which the three balloonists lived, is
               now in Yangon and will be brought
               back to Switzerland. 

               The Swiss-Belgian-British trio flew
               8,473 km (5,258 miles), about a third
               of the way around the world, but fell
               far short of the distance record set by
               Fossett a year ago when he went
               16,000 km (10,000 miles) in his Solo
               Spirit from Missouri to India. 

               On Tuesday, Piccard, Verstraeten
               and Elson received a congratulatory
               message from Fossett for having
               beaten his endurance record of six
               days, two hours and 44 minutes. 

               On Friday, the trio surpassed the
               duration record for a non-stop flight
               without refuelling. The old mark of
               nine days and four minutes was set
               in 1986 by a plane flown
               round-the-world from California by
               American pilots Dick Rutan and
               Jeana Yeager.