Here is a blow-by-blow account of the first nonstop round-the-world flight in a hot-air balloon, in 1999. The pilots were not alone; the rivalry to circumnavigate the globe was the 90s equivalent of the billionaire space race, with tycoons Richard Branson and Steve Fossett also chasing the dream. It might have been more interesting to tell that story, but documentary maker John Dower focuses on the winning flight of Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and Englishman Brian Jones, who made their record-breaking 25,000 mile trip across on the Breitling Orbiter 3.
It was Piccard’s third attempt. The first was a disaster, with Piccard ditching his balloon in the Mediterranean just hours in: “I felt completely ashamed,” he remembers. He did not have the deep pockets of Branson or Fossett, but he was born into a family of inventors and explorers; in 1931 his grandfather was the first person to reach the stratosphere, in a hydrogen balloon. Piccard is charismatic and driven, and the film buzzes around the question of his ego. He admits that one colleague accused him of being a diva. Everyone interviewed here is on their best behaviour, and in no mood to gossip, about each other or their rivals, making this a frustratingly polite documentary.
Things hot up by Piccard’s third and successful balloon flight in March 1999, with co-pilot Brian Jones. A couple of months before their takeoff, Branson’s latest effort ditched in the Pacific off Hawaii (“one of the best Christmas gifts,” says Piccard). It was touch and go for the Breitling Orbiter 3. They lost satellite communication with mission control for two days and, after a heating system failure caused issues with oxygen levels, Jones found Piccard slumped over his desk. Their balloon finally bounced to back down to Earth in the Egyptian desert after 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes. It’s a gripping story – though perhaps those involved have told it so many times over the years, they’ve lost their sense of excitement; this may well be for aviation fans only.
The Balloonists is in UK and Irish cinemas from 22 May.