Balloonists claim Atlantic mark

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 1

Balloonists claim Atlantic mark

NZPA-Reuter Amsterdam Three Dutch balloonists set a record time for an Atlantic crossing yesterday but one of the crew was hurt as the gondola made a bumpy landing in the central Netherlands, expedition officials said. “It is definitely a record,” said the operations leader, Leo Tekstra. Another official said the team had landed at 0608 GMT (6.08 p.m. NZT) yesterday in a cornfield just outside Almere, on the

south that was reclaimed from the sea in the 19605. A crew member, Willem Hageman, aged 39, said at scene that the balloon’s burner had not worked properly, leading to a rough landing and that was why his colleague, Henk Brink, aged 43, was hurt. . Royal Netherlands Air Force jet interceptors and police helicopters escorted the 15-storey-high Dutch Viking after it reached the coastline. The team clocked a time of 51 hours and 14 minutes for the trip from St? John’s, Newfoundland, nearly two hours inside the previous mark set by an American balloonist, Lieutenant Colonel Joe Kittinger, in 1984. Hundreds of people turned up to watch as the crew struggled to bring the huge white balloon and watertight module down. Mr Brink, who worked the burners and was not strapped in when

the balloon landed, was taken to hospital by helicopter. Officials said he was not seriously injured. The mission had aimed at reaching Europe and organisers saw the Dutch landing as a bonus. The crew were the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic by balloon. Mr Brink’s wife, Evelien, who was also, in the team, became the first woman to make the journey. An American group first crossed in 1978.

The Dutch trio, backed by computer-aided teams on both sides of the Atlantic, waited nearly a month for the right conditions before setting off from a Newfoundland soccer field.

Once aloft they were carried along at up to 125km/h and even had to descend to reduce speed to avoid making a landfall during the night. Flight controllers changed the landing spot several times because of variations in wind speed and direction.