Troy Bradley of New Mexico and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia set off across the Pacific Ocean from Saga, Japan, on Jan. 25, 2015, in their helium-filled Two Eagles balloon.(Photo: Troy Bradley, Two Eagles Balloon Team/AP)
Two balloonists crossing the Pacific landed safely off the coast of Mexico on Saturday, making history by traveling nearly 7,000 miles — farther and longer in a gas balloon than anyone else.
The pilots of the helium-filled Two Eagles — American Troy Bradley, 50, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev, 58, of Moscow — landed off Baja California, about 300 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, and were greeted by a team of supporters. The two took off from Saga, Japan, on Sunday and spent more than 160 hours in the air.
The trip shattered the previous distance record of more than 5,209 miles Thursday afternoon and the duration mark of more than 137 hours Friday morning, according to the site tracking the voyage.
The old distance record was set in 1981 by the Double Eagle V on the only other trans-Pacific balloon crossing. The previous duration record came with the historic 1978 trans-Atlantic crossing by the Double Eagle II.
The Two Eagles site notes the records remain unofficial until validated by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association and the international air-sport governing body.
The balloonists performed a little show for the cameras on their approach. They skimmed the ocean surface, trailing thick ropes to slow them down, before setting down in a controlled water landing.
The south-of-of the border finale is far from the original flight plan and landing spot, however.
The Two Eagles, which measures 140 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter, had expected to take a northern route into British Columbia, crossing the Canadian Rockies and then dropping down into the United States, perhaps landing somewhere in the eastern U.S.
But late Wednesday and early Thursday, the crew hit the ridge of high pressure ridge that has brought California its driest January on record. To dodge it and maintain their northern track, Bradley and Tiukhtyaev would have had to ascend to more than 30,000 feet, an altitude deemed too dangerous.
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