04. 02. 98
At 12:30 GMT, the final path decision will be made

Hello from Wim Verstraeten !

The log book

19:10 GMT: Position : 24.03N 83.26E, Southeast of Allahabad in India 17:00 GMT: BREITLING ORBITER 2 ROUND THE WORLD ATTEMPT ABANDONED ON TO THE NEXT WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT Breitling Orbiter 2 s non-stop round-the world flight attemps is definitely abandoned. At 1 pm Geneva time, flight director Alan Noble officially announced the sad decision. At that time, the staff still had no news from the meeting of Swiss and Chinese officials, held Tuesday in Bern. «We know from diplomatic sources that the Chinese government took the request of the Swiss President very seriously and that work has been going on in Beijing» said Alan Noble. «The entire team is disappointed, but we respect the right of the Chinese government to deny overflight permission.» The Chinese can t ensure the safety of Breitling Orbiter 2. The balloon is equipped with the most modern communication and radar aids, but unfortunately not all Chinese air traffic centres have equipment that can read the signals. That only leaves voice communications, which produces yet another difficulty, as some controllers outside international airlines do not speak English. The saddest news of all is that meteorologists have followed the track the balloon would have taken had it been able to climb into the jet stream when it was close to Lahore: by Saturday morning, it would have been in California, USA. Nevertheless, Breitling Orbiter 2 will continue its flight. The balloon might try and break a new world record, if the meteorological conditions are favorable: the longest non-stop non-refueled flight around the world, property of American pilot and balloonist Dick Rutan, who flew for 9 days and 4 minutes from December 14 to December 23 1986. The record will officially be broken Friday at 11.07 am Geneva time. The balloon is now heading towards Thailand and is hoping to land Friday somewhere in Burma or in Thailand. So far, it has travelled more than 6000 kilometers. 12:30 GMT: Breitling Orbiter 2 will continue its flight. But the non-stop round-the-world flight attempt is definetely abandoned. It is now too late for the balloon to catch the jet-stream. China refused to give permission to enter its territory - no news from the meeting of Swiss and Chinese officials yesterday, though the request has already been sent to Beijing. Breitling Orbiter 2 will now try and break a new world record: the longest non-stop non-refueled flight around the world, property of American pilot and balloonist Dick Rutan, who flew for 9 days and 4 minutes from December 14 to December 23 1986. The balloon is now heading towards Thailand and is hoping to land this Friday somewhere in Burma or in Thailand. 10:30 GMT: The final decision about the stop or the continuation of the flight will be taken at 12:30 GMT today. 09:20 GMT: Position : 25.50.12N 80.17.80E, South of Kanpur in India, speed 21 kts 06:20 GMT: Position : 26.21.96N 79.16.92E, East of Kanpur in India