Path-breaking balloon drifts into immortality

8220;It8217;s just a fabulous way to finish,8221; said Jones. He said he had yet to have time to celebrate, but first, I am going to phone the control room and tell my wife I love her. And then I am going to have a cup of tea, like any good Englishman.8221;

After 19 days aloft, Piccard, Jones and their silvery Breitling Orbiter 3 floated past longitude 9 degrees West at 3.24 pm IST to complete the 42,000-km-plus nonstop circumnavigation, a featthat had challenged and eluded dozens of balloonists before them.

Triumphant but weary, the record-making duo sped on toward a landing probably early Sunday in Egypt. For all the dangers and difficulties of long-distance ballooning, the historic voyage was relatively uneventful for Piccard, 41, grandson and son of famed explorers of the air and sea, and Jones, a 51-year-old balloon instructor and grandfather.

They lifted off among the snowy Swiss Alps on March 1, drifted down to the sands of North Africa, caught a jet stream and headed on across the Arabian desert, over teeming India and on to the lush green of South-east Asia.

The treacherous Pacific Ocean crossing proved relatively smooth, accomplished in six days. East of Central America, seven miles high, they were trapped in a lazy spiral and developed temporary breathing problems in the deeply frigid air. But the 55-metre-high balloon soon caught a favourable jet stream that propelled them on their last leg, at 90 mph, across the Atlantic.

SinceUS publisher James Gordon Bennett established a trophy for long-distance ballooning in 1906, sportsmen have striven to fly the farthest, eventually setting their sights on a round-the-world flight. Americans Maxie Anderson and Don Ida made the first attempt, in 1981, but flew only 2,676 miles, from Egypt to India.

Two of Jones and Piccard8217;s keenest rivals paid their tribute. 8220;It is a magnificent achievement and two delightful people have achieved it and we look forward to going to Switzerland to celebrate it with them tomorrow,8221; British adventurer tycoon Richard Branson told Sky TV news.

American millionaire Steve Fossett, who had teamed with Branson in their latest attempt last December, said Jones and Piccard had won one of the 8220;greatest competitions in aviation history8221;.

This was Piccard8217;s third attempt to complete the adventure. Last year, he was forced to ditch in Myanmar after his balloon was refused permission to cross China. There was celebration in the Breitling Orbiter makeshift controlroom at Geneva airport, where a team of flight controllers, meteorologists and technicians has been following the balloon8217;s progress 24 hours a day.

Piccard8217;s wife Michele and their three small daughters set off to Africa for a reunion with her husband, while Jones8217; wife Joanna, who has been working in the control room, decided to remain in Geneva. Chief meteorologist Luc Trullemans said the balloon had more than enough fuel to make it to Egypt.

In a conversation with ATC in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday morning, Piccard was asked whether he was going to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, or to Mali.

8220;Negative. We do not land. We go to Egypt. We are a balloon flying around the world,8221; Piccard replied.