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Indian business tycoon creates hot-air balloon record
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-26 15:16
An Indian business tycoon with a penchant for adventure created a new hot-air
balloon altitude record on Saturday, touching the edge of space in a climb to
nearly 70,000 feet (21,336 metres).
Vijaypat Singhania, an amateur aviator whose family controls the
diversified JK Group, broke the 17-year-old world record of 64,997 feet (19,810
metres) set by British-based Swede Per Lindstrand by ascending to approximately
69,852 feet, the edge of space.
Singhania had originally aimed for 70,000 feet, but decided against it
towards the end of the journey.
A worker passes by Industrialist Vijaypat
Singhania's hot air balloon during its preparation for take off in Mumbai
November 26, 2005. [Reuters] | "At 69,800-plus
feet, he hit an air pocket and the ascent became slow. We decided not to push
ahead as he had broken the record anyway," Colin Prescot, who designed the
balloon with Andy Elson, told reporters even as Singhania began his descent,
shortly before 9 am (0330g).
The Federation Aeronautique International (FAI) says an aviator must achieve
at least a three percent improvement on an existing record to qualify for
recognition as a new record.
Singhania's record awaits formal ratification.
Indian millionaire Vijaypat Singhania prepares
to take off his hot air balloon in Bombay, India, Saturday, Nov. 26,
2005.[AP] | "Representatives of the Aeronautical Club of India, who are here, will submit
a report to the FAI," Prescot said.
The 67-year-old Singhania took off at dawn in a specially-designed nylon
balloon from the polo ground of a race course in India's commercial hub of
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.
He rode the rising warm air west and then moved north for an intended landing
near Nasik district, 185 km (115 miles) away.
Singhania, an avid flyer, flew solo a microlight aircraft from Britain to
India in a record 23 days in 1988. He also won the International Around the
World Air Race in 1994.
The balloon's envelope has been made using a special light nylon and was
powered by 18 burners, fuelled by kerosene and propane. It included a
pressurised aluminium capsule in which Singhania flew.
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