ICO Global Challenge

The flight crew, the money, the equipment, the support staff. Can they do it this time?

by Tom Hamilton

Why does a billionaire businessman risk his life to fly around the world in a balloon? Richard Branson is a driven man, one who wants to succeed and achieve great accomplishments. In a recent interview Branson said, "After the Pacific crossing flight all I wanted was a drink and a roaring fire, but I could see a gleam in Per's eyes. He said we'd broken all the these records, and now it was time to try for the last onea flight around the world. We'd nearly died again, and Per was already thinking about going up again, on an even harder flight. I thought he was mad at first. But then when I thought about it some more, I realized that for all the horrendous moments, and there'd been a lot of those, these flights had been the greatest adventures of my life. So I let Per persuade me."

Per Lindstrand is the dreamer, builder, and catalyst behind this flight. Balloon Life recently spoke with him by phone from his base of operations in Marrakech, Morocco. He said, "The equipment is in place and the full team is here. We have our overflight permissions except for Iraq, Russia and North Korea. Iraq might be a bit of a problem to fly around, but I think we can do it."

Joining the team this year is Steve Fossett. Steve has made four solo attempts at this elusive prize. He brings considerable experience and determination that will be necessary to meet the challenge.

Between them, the crew of the ICO Global have broken ballooning's toughest records, survived a 28 hour mountain blizzard, started several global companies, won awards and medals, driven in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Iditarod dog-sled race and flown 56,000 milesmore than twice the distance around the globein their attempts to complete the Global Challenge.

Richard Branson, and Per Lindstrand have known each other for several years and are confident that this year, with the additional skills and experience of Steve Fossett, the last great prize in aviation is within their grasp. Richard and Per's first long distance flight was the 1987 crossing of the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.

The ICO Global is a Roziere balloon standing 160 feet high and 120 in diameter. The capsule is a pressurized and well-insulated aluminum cylinder almost ten feet in diameter and slightly more in height. The capsule is divided in two floors. The three pilot's stations ring the upper deck, each with its own comfortable and crash-worthy seat. On the lower deck is a single sleeping bay, with room to stretch out.

A ring of tiny portholes circles the upper cabin but the visibility is very poor. The information the pilots need to fly the craft will come from video cameras and their computer screens. On the lower deck, besides the sleeping bay, is a toilet, CD player and video player for R&R.

The envelope is made out of an aramid fabric (so tough it's used in the manufacture of bullet-proof vests) coated in plastic to stop the helium escaping. The panels of fabric are joined with more than four miles of welds. A single hole the size of a pinhead could spell the end for ICO Global's flight. The top of the balloon is white, to manage heat input from the sun and control the temperature of the helium, while the cone is coated with a thin layer of reflective aluminum, which keeps the heat of the burners locked into the cone at night.

Branson has been asked if he will retire from extreme ballooning challenges should his team be successful this year. "After this, if we're successful I think I'll calm down," he says. "It's been ten years we've been working on this. Mind you, Per always says that after every adventure, I say `never again' and when the next one comes up, I quickly change my tune to `come on, let's get on with it.' And there are some other stunning ballooning projects out there, which I can't really talk about yet, which would be a great adventure to do."

What could those projects be? Balloon Life has some ideas, but that's material for another story.