Aviation talk

He breaks the world record by flying to a height of 69,852 feet in a Hot Air Balloon

Dr. Vijaypat Singhania, renowned industrialist and aviator par excellence on November 26, 2005 became the first man to fly in a hot air balloon to a high altitude of 69,852 feet above sea level, thus creating the world record. The record has been monitored by the Aero Club of India who will apply for the official ratification of the international record with the body responsible, Federation Aeronautique Internationale.On this historic day, Dr. Singhania took off from the Polo Grounds, Mahalaxmi Race Course, Mumbai at 6:39 am and took about 2 hours and 14 minutes with an average speed 600 to 700 ft per minute. Having created history by bringing the world record to India, Dr. Singhania safely landed at Sinnar, between Shirdi and Nashik at 11.30 a.m. He achieved this record overhead of Ulhasnagar, a central suburb on the outskirts of Mumbai. By achieving this feat, Dr. Singhania has broken the existing world record of ‘High Altitude in a Hot Air Balloon’ set by Per Lindstrand who reached a height of 64,997 feet (19,811 metres) in Plano, Texas, USA on June 6, 1988.

The Cameron-built hot air balloon was 1,600,000 cubic feet in size, one of the largest hot air balloons ever built. (The most popular sport balloons are usually under 100,000 cubic feet in size.) The balloon  stand 48.8 meters  high when inflated, and weight approximately 1820 kg at launch. Singhania flew in a custom built gondola containing advanced communication, life support, safety, and flight control equipment. The gondola is insulated and pressurized, since the flight will took him to the edge of space where the temperature outside his sealed cabin will be roughly -135F (-93C) and oxygen levels will be negligible.

Mr Singhania, who heads the clothing company Raymond Ltd, has been a keen aviator for over four decades with more than 5,000 hours flying experience. He undertook a solo flight in a micro light aircraft in 22 days from London to Ahmedabad in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 1988. Mr Singhania is also only Indian to have won the aviation sports gold medal from the FAI for a 24-day world air race covering 34,000 kilometres in 1994.