‘White Knuckle’ Ballast Drop : Swede’s Hot-Air Balloon Soars to Record 11 Miles

Swedish pilot Per Lindstrand set an altitude record for a hot-air balloon today, soaring to 59,700 feet--more than 11 miles--after dramatically cutting away a sandbag by climbing outside the capsule.

Lindstrand, 39, who lives in Britain, broke the previous record of 55,124 feet set by Englishman Julian Knott in 1980.

Lindstrand had hoped that the $200,000 flight would break the 60,000-feet barrier, considered until now to be technically impossible because of a lack of oxygen in the atmosphere needed for the balloon’s burners.

The mission’s only serious complication occurred moments before his 5:42 a.m. launch, when Lindstrand’s specially designed 12-story Stratoquest balloon and one-man aluminum capsule began rising unexpectedly, allowing time for his ground crew to remove only two of four 100-pound ballast sandbags.

Used Swiss Army Knife

At 20,000 feet, Lindstrand sat in the doorway of the capsule, reached out and cut away one of the bags with a Swiss army knife which he said later he carries for good luck.

But the second bag was located diagonally opposite the hatch, out of his reach.

“I knew that without cutting (both) these sandbags, I wasn’t going to make it. I didn’t come all the way to Texas to not make it,” a jubilant Lindstrand told a news conference.

At 22,000 feet, he decided to go after the second sandbag. He removed his oxygen mask and climbed out into sub-freezing temperatures, hanging on to the outside of the capsule with only his hands.

Asked how he managed, Lindstrand said: “White knuckle to white knuckle to white knuckle to white knuckle.”

He added that he “looked like Tarzan in one of those jungle movies with the knife held between my teeth.”

He said he was uncertain how long he was outside the capsule.

Outside ‘Probably 10 Seconds’

“It felt like three hours, but it was probably 10 seconds,” he said.

Moments after his re-entry into the capsule, Lindstrand radioed he had successfully freed the second bag, bringing sighs of relief to his ground crew below.

“I don’t think I’ll get into a circus act,” Lindstrand later quipped. “It was quite primitive.”

Joking with reporters, Lindstrand said sandbag ballasts have been left on previous flights he has made.

“We have a longstanding tradition of getting sandbags airborne,” he said.