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Vijaypat Singhania's balloon flight
Vijaypat Singhania soars to 69852 feet height
in flight to record
BY A CORRESPONDENT
26th November 2005
Vijaypat Singhania, industrialist and aviator,
climbed to height of 69852 ft in a hot air balloon
on Saturday Noveber 26, setting a new world
record. The record so far was 65000 ft.
 One of the challenges of
the balloon flight was to keep the burners going
at the high altitude. In some earlier missions,
the burners flamed out at the steep heights, since
oxygen is practically absent in higher atmosphere.
The balloon flight project was headed by two
British balloonists, Andy Elson and Colin Prescot.
The project was managed by Captain MR Wadia, a
decorated officer of the Indian Air Force. Andy
has earlier made balloons for NASA, while Prescot
has helped performed balloon stunts in some James
Bond movies.
The hot air balloon contraption itself had two
components, one the balloon itself (called the
envelope) and the capsule, which houses the pilot.
The capsule, which is the flight cockpit, houses
an array of equipment, including an altimeter,
barograph, GPS systems, oxygen cylinders, fuel
control system, transponders, satellite phones,
telemetry equipment, video transmitters and four
cameras. The capsule was pressurised and
oxygenated, armed by life support systems. The
entire space flight was monitored by a mission
control centre on ground.
 Singhania's seat in the cockpit was
more like that of a racing car, providing lateral,
head and spinal protection. The balloon was also
fitted with a parachute externally, which would be
automatically activated in case of an emergency.
Vijaypat Singhania wore specially-designed cotton
overalls during his trip to the edge of space.
What about food aboard the balloon? Singhania
carried chocolates and water with him to help him
through the aerial journey.
At a height of 70,000 feet, Mr Singhania was
closer to the space than earth. At this height, a
spacesuit is recommended, but Vijaypat Singhania
could not wear it due to his age. At this height,
one can catch a glimpse of the curvature of the
earth, just like from a spaceship.
The earlier world record of flying high in a hot
air balloon is held by a Swede - Per Lindstrand,
who climbed to 64997 feet in a balloon.
With this balloon flight, Vijaypat Singhania has
also beaten his own earlier record of flying in a
balloon to 29400 feet. That time, he rose to the
skies from Ahmedabad. On June 14 this year, he
took off on a balloon 30 miles west of the
Ahmedabad, and hovered in the skies for over two
hours, before landing at Sabarkanta.
Vijayapat Singhania is chairman emeritus of
Raymond, one of the premier business groups in
India. He is also a sports enthusiast, aviator,
philanthropist and adventurer.
Vijaypat Singhania had earlier won the
round-the-world-race in a Cessna, besides the
Microlite record in 1988. Singhania has flying
experience over 5000 hours spread across four
decades.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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