Around the World Hot Air Balloon Cheaters^

Going around the world in a hot air balloon should mean that you use just hot air and not any lighter than air gases like helium. The record for the first person to really go around the world in a hot air balloon is still open.

The HOW isn't really the issue, is it?

But since you asked, perhaps by using some sort of solar assist by coating the balloon in carbon black and staying very low and only in the tropical regions. I don't know what you do at night perhaps an RTG you shagged from NASA would work.

Why it is impossible to fly around the world without the helium...

* You need too much propane/kerosine * You have to stay at low alltitude * Since you have to stay at low altitude, you're 100 % sure you'll have bad weather * Wind speed / wind directions will make sure that you won't get around

The Breitling Orbiter 3 is a combination of hot air and helium. So they did fly with a hot air balloon...

So, if I take a child's toy helium balloon and a bunsen burner with me on a 747, then I can claim I flew with a hot air balloon? My point is that the supposed last great airborne adventure isn't really over. There is still the world record for a purely hot air balloon. Around the world is too much to ask for now, but has anyone crossed the Atlantic?

The record was first to go around the world in a BALLOON not a hot-air balloon specifically. Quite simply the amount of fuel required to make a hot air trip around the world precludes anybody from getting that record. Burn solidly for eighteen days? Unless we discover dilithium crystals and have unlimited energy, i can't see it happening.

How you want to do that with 500 bottle's of gas you need a truck of fuel. jan

Sorry to disappoint you, but that RTG won't work. You need a higher density of thermal energy. There are ways to utilize solar energy.

The record was to go around the world in a BALLOON not necessarily a HOT-AIR balloon. Due to the immense fuel reserve required for a trip in a hot-air balloon, i can't see it happening anytime soon. Burn solidly for eighteen days??? Unless we discover dilythium crystals and possess unlimited energy, i won't be holding my breath.

beam me up,

craig stockdale.

sorry, for some reason that message got sent twice.

The first and arguably the most famous such flight was that of the Graf Zeppelin in 1929. Of course, it was not non-stop...

By 'balloon' we mean something that doesn't have an engine of some sort of powered control of direction and is held aloft by lighter than air gas, right?

WHAT is the record for distance and duration for a hotair balloon? Certainly there is a record and certainly it could be extended, perhaps not around the world, but it could be extended. It wasn't that long ago that the world record for a balloon of any type didn't even include going across the Atlantic.