Record Breaking With Historic Balloon Flights

It was Guy Fawkes night and we were out in the back garden setting off some fireworks

to celebrate the occasion, when someone brought a Roman candle out and insisted that we set that off. Having never seen one of these before I was amazed at how much fun could be had from such a small object. In effect it works similar to a hot air balloon, a paper canopy is inflated by the hot gases or fumes given off from the flammable card beneath causes it to rise in the sky.

As we all stood back admiring our little roman candle which was off on its own little journey it got me thinking about some of the great balloon flights that have taken place over the years. The man at the heart of a lot of the amazing balloon flight was Virgin entrepreneur, Richard Branson. On several occasions Branson has attempted to break records for global balloon crossings.

The first of his amazing balloon flights was back in 1987 when he successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean in his hot air balloon, Virgin Atlantic Flyer. The balloon reached speeds of up to 130mph at times on the journey and it was also the largest Balloon at 2.3 million cubic feet in size. It was the first time that a hot air balloon had crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

With this achievement under his belt it was long before Branson was planning his next record breaking Balloon Flights, he had two in mind firstly a test flight crossing the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, this flight passed without a hitch but this was merely scratching the surface of what he was about to attempt in what was sure to be the most extreme set of balloon flights anyone had ever taken part in.

Between 1995 and 1998, Richard Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett attempted to circumnavigate the globe in their balloon after a failed attempt they were finally beaten to the record by the team of Breitling Orbiter 3 which was piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones. The Breitling Orbiter was manufacturer and built in Bristol, England and stood an impressive 55 metres tall when fully inflated.

With the record gone and problems with their own balloon Branson and the crew crashed landed in the Pacific Ocean on Christmas Day 1998, defeated but richer for the experience. The old saying holds true that if you try to achieve something and are unsuccessful you are not a failure; you will only a failure if you don't attempt to try something in the first place.

So there is a brief history of some memorable balloon flights, it can be an experience that can enrich your life and lead to great success, so what are you waiting for, take to the skies today.

by: Anna Stenning

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