17. 03. 99
LAST STAGE BEFORE THE ATLANTIC

The log book

17:15 GMT: After entering Mexican airspace, this morning at 02.45 GMT, Breitling Orbiter 3 has just passed over Guatemala and Belize, at an altitude of 10'500 meters (34'500 feet) and a speed of approximately 45 knots (81 km/h). It will then head towards Jamaica (Thursday morning), Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The " finish line " in Mauritania (9.27 degrees West) should be crossed Saturday 18.00 GMT, a little bit later than expected, due to the development of the winds. Thursday morning between dawn and mid-day, Breitling Orbiter 3 will pass over Jamaica at slightly higher speeds (60 knots, 112 km/h), before catching the Atlantic jet stream over the North of Guadeloupe, Thursday evening. The balloon should then cross the Altantic at speeds of up to 75 knots (135 km/h). Though it is still a little too early to specify a precise area or even country in North Africa, a landing in Egypt seems at the present time quite improbable (though still theoretically possible), due to the winds and the unknown remaining fuel reserves. Last night was not exactly a calm one at the Breitling Orbiter mission control, in Geneva airport. " We don’t know how this happened, but the balloon got ejected of the jet stream much earlier than expected and started to drift in a poor southerly direction", commented Belgian meteorologist Luc Trullemans. However, this unexpected deviation has no major consequences : the balloon should just lose half a day and cross" finish line " over Mauritania later than anticipated. Over the night, the balloon consumed more fuel than on previous nights, which concerned flight director Alan Noble. " We hope this was a one-off problem, possibly caused by the balloon passing through a few clouds. If this is the case, then we will still have enough fuel to get to North Africa ". The pilots appeared to be exhausted, this afternoon, while talking to mission control. Temperature inside the gondola is no more than 8 degrees, due to a propable failure with one of the heaters. " It’s getting tougher and tougher" commented Bertrand Piccard. 01:45 GMT: After 6 days and 16 hours flying over the Pacific Ocean, the Breitling Orbiter 3 has reached the coast of Mexico south of Colima. A number of times, the meteorologists corrected the track of the balloon because it was veering too far south. Now, the Breitling Orbiter 3 is heading towards the south of Mexico City. It should reach the Antilles Thursday morning and then start its flight over the Atlantic.