Daredevil Indian tycoon claims world balloon altitude record
Daredevil Indian tycoon claims world balloon altitude record
Salil Panchal
Agence France Presse/Mumbai
Daredevil 67-year-old Indian tycoon Vijaypat Singhania claimed a
new world altitude record Saturday by flying a hot air balloon to
the edge of space, climbing nearly 70,000 feet (21,200 meters).
The amateur aviator, whose record must still be ratified,
lifted off at dawn from a racecourse in the western Indian city
of Mumbai serenaded by a band.
Singhania, who used one of the largest nylon balloons ever
built, said he wanted "to do the country proud."
The hot-air balloon enthusiast had dubbed his flight in which
he flew housed in a pressurized capsule through sub-zero
temperatures "MI 70K -- Mission Impossible 70,000."
Singhania was aiming to beat the previous high altitude record
of 64,997 feet (19,811 metres) set by Swedish aviator Per
Lindstrand in 1988 over the U.S. state of Texas.
Some 17 aviators have previously tried to eclipse Lindstrand's
record.
The technical team at the Mumbai racecourse monitoring
Singhania's five-hour flight said his balloon touched 69,852 feet
(21,167 metres).
On reaching the level, Gautam Singania, the industrialist's
son, beamed proudly and said: "Gentlemen, we've got the world
record."
"The flight went like clockwork," said British aviation expert
Colin Prescot, who helped to design the 158-foot (48-meter) high
balloon -- equivalent to an 18-storey building -- which had a
capacity of 1.6 million cubic feet (45,300 cubic metres).
The Indian aviator opted to stop short of his 70,000 foot
target when his red-yellow-and-blue-check balloon hit a cold air
pocket.
The technical team told him to play it safe and descend as he
had set the new record.
Singhania, who heads upmarket Indian clothing company Raymond
Ltd, touched down in Sinnar township, some 250 kilometers from
Mumbai.
The aviator, who has notched up more than 5,000 hours of
flying experience, is the lone Indian to have won the aviation
sports gold medal from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale
(FAI).
Singhania who has made other hot air balloon flights but none
so high got the medal for a 24-day around the world plane race
covering 34,000 kilometers (21,250 miles).
Details of his latest feat will be submitted to the FAI, said
Prescot who was watched the flight along with balloon co-designer
Andy Elson, another Briton.
Verification of the world record claim could take up to two
months, Prescot told AFP.
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AFP
GetAFP 2.10 -- NOV 26, 2005 16:09:37