His Challenge Is Full of Hot Air

The chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Records has set his sights on a flight record. Richard Branson wants to use a hot-air balloon to cross the Pacific Ocean. The 6,200-mile trip from Miyakonojo, Japan, to Southern California would be the longest hot-air balloon flight ever. “It’s the last great challenge,” said Branson, 38, whose balloon flight across the Atlantic--less than half the length of the Pacific trip--nearly killed him two years ago. His “Virgin Flyer” ditched in the Irish Sea after touching down in Northern Ireland, and he was pulled from the sea by helicopter. He and partner Per Lindstrand, who made the Atlantic attempt with him, will make the Pacific trip in November with the world’s largest balloon, nearly 200 feet tall and made with 17 miles of metallic fabric. They will ride in an 8-by-8 foot pressurized cabin, and the rig should be able to travel up to 200 m.p.h. in the jet stream, 36,000 feet up. The attempt is being made in late fall because the jet stream will be strong then, making the attempt of such a long distance possible. Even then, the crossing is expected to take three to five days. During the flight, Branson and Lindstrand plan to study the effect of ozone on the atmosphere.

--The U.S. government is studying Dayton, Ohio, sites where two of the best-known figures in aviation history lived and worked for possible designation as a national park. U.S. District Court Judge Walter Rice is heading a committee formed to preserve the heritage of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who developed the first heavier-than-air flying machine. Although the Wright brothers’ first controlled, sustained flight was made at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903, it was at their Dayton bicycle shop that they built their early aircraft. Sites targeted for the National Park Service study, which Rep. Tony P. Hall (D-Ohio) said would take 12 to 15 months, include Huffman Prairie, where the Wright brothers did their first experiments; buildings that housed the Wright’s airplane company, bicycle shop and printing business and Orville Wright’s home.

--Vanessa Vadim, daughter of actress Jane Fonda and film maker Roger Vadim, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges and was released on her own recognizance a day after she was arrested outside a reputed drug den in New York with her boyfriend, Thomas Feegal, who was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, believed to be heroin, and possession of a hypodermic needle. The charges against Vadim were obstructing governmental administration, loitering for the purpose of purchasing drugs and disorderly conduct.