Trans-Pacific Balloonists Set Two Records

Swedish balloonist Per Lindstrand and wealthy British adventurer Richard Branson claimed speed and distance records Thursday when they landed their hot-air balloon in Canada’s Northwest Territories after a 6,700-mile, 48-hour flight from Japan.

The former distance record was 6,138 miles by a helium-filled balloon, Double Eagle V, in 1982. The record for a hot-air balloon was 3,072 miles by Lindstrand and Branson in ’87 when they flew from Maine to Ireland.

Riding the easterly jet stream at an average altitude of 27,000 feet, they averaged 145 m.p.h. and at one point reached 218 m.p.h.--the fastest a balloon has ever flown.

They landed during a light snowstorm on a frozen lake 200 miles north-northwest of Yellowknife in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories.

“Everything’s OK, but it’s rather cold and we could use a taxi,” Branson said.

They were picked up by a private helicopter to start home.

The Virgin-Otsuka Pacific Flyer is the largest hot-air balloon ever built, with a capacity of 2.6 million cubic feet. A hot-air balloon had never crossed the Pacific. Four men, including restaurateur-adventurer Rocky Aoki, flew a helium balloon from Japan to Covello, Calif., in ’81.

Less than a week before their flight, a Japanese attempting a solo crossing drowned when his helium balloon crashed 290 miles off Japan.