A 65-year-old Russian adventurer was slowly coming back to Earth in the Australian Outback on Saturday after claiming a new world record for flying solo around the world nonstop in 11 days.
Fedor Konyukhov demonstrated precision navigation of his 184 ft-tall helium and hot air balloon by returning to Australia directly over the west coast city of Perth, then over the airfield at the Australian town of Northam, 96 kilometers to the east by road, where he began his journey on July 12, support team member Steve Griffin said.
American businessman Steve Fossett also started from Northam to set a record of 13 days and eight hours for his 33,000-kilometer journey in 2002.
Konyukhov, a Russian Orthodox priest, has taken a longer route and roughly 11 days and six hours to complete the circumnavigation.
Crews in six helicopters were following the 1.6-metric ton balloon inland to and help him land somewhere along a 500-kilometer sparsely populated outback expanse between Northam and the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie, The Hindu reported.
“We’ve got to keep him up a bit longer because there’s quite a bit of wind on the ground here,” Griffin said from Northam.
Konyukhov’s team say landing the balloon could be the most challenging and dangerous part of the journey, with late afternoon the best time.
“There’s a number of things we have to be careful to manage as far as the risk goes,” Griffin said. “Fedor is very tired. He’s hardly slept in 11 days.”
The Swiss-based World Air Sports Federation did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the new record.AP
Fedor is very tired. He’s hardly slept in 11 days