Wim Verstraeten
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The Flight Around the World

The Orbiter II Has Landed
It was a very successful attempt, the flight of the Breitling Orbiter 2. No, the ultimate goal was not reached, but the crew proved that the project has every possibility to succeed. Not only did they have very few technical problems, the crew, too, turned out to be a winner's team because of the diversity of skills on board. Only a late official permission to fly through Chinese airspace thwarted the attempt to circumnavigate the world. The memorable flight of the silver balloon ended in a rice field in Burma.
If the fast-closing Jet Stream window prevents the lift-off of the Virgin Challenger, then Wim Verstraeten, Bertrand Piccard, and Andy Elson will have flown the last attempt this season. Earlier, Steve Fossett again astounded friend and foe with his spectacular one-man, low-tech mission. The American met the same problems as last year, however, and was forced to land in Russia. He still holds the distance record, after having lost the endurance record to the crew of the Breitling Orbiter 2. Global Hilton and J. Renee both suffered the same fate when the helium-filled inner bell of their balloons ruptured due to lower air pressure at high altitudes.
Orbiter 2 Position Table and Map.

DAY BY DAY
Wednesday, 28-1-1998
The Breitling Orbiter 2 has taken off from Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland at 09.55 CET. Temperature in the valley was minus 15 degrees Celsius, with hardly any wind at all. The balloon was still visible from the resort three hours after lift-off.

Thursday, 29-1-1998
Wind speeds as low as 10 kph have caused to balloon to sail very slowly over southern France towards Corsica. A leak in the rear hatch has been found. Andy Elson attempts a first fix from the inside, which later proves to be incomplete.

Friday, 30-1-1998
Winds speeds are still quite low: the balloon is progressing very slowly towards the Italian mainland. Wim Verstraeten has slept two long nights, and Andy Elson has developed a headache and is put to bed by Piccard. The city of Napels is reached in the late evening. The rear hatch leak is to be repaired early in the next morning.

Saturday, 31-1-1998
At low altitude over the sea between Italy and Greece, Piccard and Elson climb out to fix the leak on the rear hatch while Wim steers the balloon towards mount Olympus. After the repairs are made, the balloon immediately ascends to 6000 meters while air pressure remains stable. This sign of successful repairs coincides with an increase in speed to 70 kph.

Sunday, 1-2-1998
At night, with increased speed, the balloon has flown over Greece and Turkey and by midday on Sunday, they are over Syria heading for Iraq. After mediation by the Red Cross and live coverage on CNN, the Iraqi authorities give official permission to fly over the northern part of the country. With a speed now reaching 150 kph, the Breitling Orbiter soon finds itself over western Iran where they are mistakenly ordered to land to identify themselves. The situation is resolved and the balloon heads for Pakistan, after crossing over five countries in 24 hours.

Monday, 2-2-1998
Speed has decreased again, and the balloon crosses the Afghan border with Iran around 14.00 CET. Heading for the Indus valley, they will reach Pakistan early the next day. Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure on China increases. British, Belgian and Swiss officials try their best to get official permission from Beijing. Worries about low kerosine levels briefly turn up. It is estimated that the Orbiter has enough kerosine left for nine more days, requiring the balloon to ascend to the Jet Stream within the next two days, and flying over southern China.

Tuesday, 3-2-1998
In the morning comes word of China's official refusal to grant overflight permission. The balloon has then crossed the Indus valley at very low altitude and attracted a crowd of delighted children. Following the depressing news, the control center prepares plans for a landing in Bangladesh. In the afternoon central European time, the team breaks Steve Fossett's duration record. New hope regarding China appears when the Vice Prime Minister of China, visiting Switzerland for the Davos convention, promises to ask his Foreign Office to reconsider the earlier refusal. If the new answer follows shortly, there is still a chance for successful completion of the mission.

Wednesday, 4-2-1998
News from China does not come today. The situation is getting more difficult by the hour. In the evening the decision is taken to land the balloon on Friday. Too much kerosine has been used in an attempt to fly south of China. The balloon is over northern India at that time, flying at about 35 kph. The team also decides to break another record, the one of the longest non-stop, non-refueled flight set by Dick Rutan in 1986.

Thursday, 5-2-1998
The pilots are steering the balloon to fly right over Calcutta. Airspeed is low, as is their altitude. At 09.00 CET, the Swiss embassy in Beijing receives official permission to fly over China. Though this news is welcomed, it is too late for the current attempt. Landing is planned for Friday or Saturday in Burma, north of the city Rangoon.

Friday, 6-2-1998
Flying low and slow over the Bay of Bengal, the team approaches Burma while getting closer to break the absolute endurance record. Sunset will cause the balloon to fly on and land on Saturday.

Saturday, 7-2-1998
The crew of the Breitling Orbiter 2 has safely landed near Sitkwin in Myanmar, about 130 km North of Rangon, apparantly in a rice field. The landing occured at 02.50 UTC on Saturday, February 7th 1998. Verstraeten, Piccard and Elson had been in the air for 9 days, 17 hours and 55 minutes, an absolute endurance record for a non-stop, non-refueled flight. In this time, they have traveled 8473 km, some 5258 miles.


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The Orbiter III: Around at last
On March 1st, 1999, Breitling Orbiter III took off from Château d'Oex (Switzerland). The balloon skimmed the alps as it drifted towards Africa. The first 24 hours, which are very important, passed very succesful. They passed Almeria (Spain), where Colin Prescot and Andy Elson had launched Cable and Wireless two weeks before on their round-the-world attempt. Having drefted south-west from the start, the Orbiter III finally began to turn towards the East. After zooming over Lybia, the balloonists must avoid no-fly zones over Egypt and Yemen.

DAY BY DAY
10-3-1999
Honouring an agreement with China to stay south of the 26th parallel, the team crossed that nation in fifteen hours. They started crossing the Pacific Ocean.

12-3-1999
Wary of towering nimbus clouds, they continued the crossing of the Pacific. Because of bad weather conditions they had to give up on Northern route and had to let themselves be pushed towards the equator. No-one has ever flown a balloon so far South across the Pacific. This seemed to be the toughest part of their flight. It was the first time both pilots felt frightened.

16-3-1999
After six days of flight over the Pacific, the optimism of the meteorologists was proved right and they entered a powerful jetstream. The pilots surpassed American Steve Fosset's distance record of 14,236 miles.

17-3-1999
The balloon is ejected from the jet stream over Mexico.

19-3-1999
They broke the duration record of 17 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes aloft.

20-3-1999
The balloonists crossed the finish line at 9°27' west longitude.
They became the first to circle the globe non-stop.

21-3-1999
After 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes the Breitling Orbiter III and its pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, landed in the Egyptian sands. This was the succesful end of what was called the last adventure of the century.
Congratulations to the crew.

First historical flight in Lybian dessert

On January 1st, 2000, Wim Verstraeten was the first balloon pilot to fly over the Lybian dessert. He made history as it was the first time Lybia gave the permission to overfly its country. Never in the past, Colonel Kadhaffi has given approval. It bacame a very symbolic flight as a start of a new millennium.

Jump Over Belgium - edition 2000

Aim: fly the greatest distance within Belgian borders (take-off and landing in Belgium).

Balloon Promotions' pilot Christophe Saeys was the second in the distance record, 121,88 km, but flew the longest time.