Life’s a gas for record-breaking balloonists heading for Mexico

Two pilots soaring over the Pacific Ocean have made history by surpassing an official world distance record for human flight in a gas balloon. The Two Eagles pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, traveled more than 5,261 miles to put themselves in contention for the record. It still needs to be ratified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, a process than can take weeks.

We’re really excited and just now concentrating on getting them to a nice safe landing.

Art Lloyd Jr, a mission support control worker

The rules of international aviation require the current record of 5,201 miles to be exceeded by at least 1% to establish a record. Bradley and Tiukhtyaev set out to best both distance and duration records with their flight from Saga, Japan, which began shortly before 6:30 am Sunday, Japan time. They plan to land in Baja California, Mexico on Saturday.

World balloon