10. 03. 99
Breitling Orbiter 3: China behind, Pacific ahead

The log book

16:30 GMT: Breitling Orbiter 3 has sucessfully overflown China in a record time of 14 hours, much faster than anticipated. It constantly stayed South of the 26th parallel with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. " It is the first time a balloon has legally crossed over China ", pointed out Stefano Aibinati, Breitling’s project manager. The balloon, which has flown more than 17'000 kilometers, is now facing the second crucial part of the flight : the crossing of the Pacific Ocean. It should reach the coast of Mexico in six days. Having exited Chinese airspace earlier than expected, Breitling Orbiter 3 will have to take the long way across the Pacific – a more southerly track towards Hawaii and Mexico - instead of aiming at Japan, where weather conditions are very unfavorable at the moment. " What frightens us most about crossing the Pacific is bad weather in an aera where rescue will be long and possibly difficult ", declared British pilot Brian Jones. " I’m just hoping we won’t bump into any bad weather " Breitling Orbiter entered Chinese airspace Tuesday night at 21:20 GMT. Fourteen hours later, it left the Fujian province, after having caught the fastests winds to date (90 knots, 168 km/h). During the night, the craft flew so close to the 26th parallel - sometimes less than 40 kilometers away from the no-fly zone- that the crew were made aware of this three times by the Chinese air traffic control " I was feeling very nervous all the way across ", reckoned Brian Jones, " but we didn’t have time to celebrate, as we were too worried about the Pacific. " The British pilot added : " I’m hoping that in the future the Chinese will be more sympathetic towards balloons flying over their airpsace, because we have demonstrated extremely well that we can keep our promises ". Both pilots were sorry they couldn’t enjoy the landscape as the balloon constantly flew over clouds. " I was hoping to see how beautiful China was from the air, but our only glimpse of the ground was of the airport at Kunming ", said Bertrand Piccard. 13:30 GMT: Breitling Orbiter 3 has left China at 11:20 GMT.It will fly over T'ai-Pei (Taiwan) at around 1pm GMT. 10:45 GMT: "Too fast". That was the only complaint team metorologists made about the overnight flight of Breitling Orbiter 3 across China. "Too cloudy". That was the only complaint made by the pilots about this transit, as they were hoping to enjoy a glimpse of the ground. They should leave China at 12:00 GMT. 06:00 GMT: As soon as the Breitling Orbiter 3 entered Chinese Airspace, last night at 21:20 GMT, the control center in Geneva received a welcome note from the Swiss Embassy in Beijing addressed to the pilots Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones. The message was immediately transmitted to the balloon.