Balloonists Continue Bid to Cross Pacific

British millionaire Richard Branson and his Swedish co-pilot, Per Lindstrand, gave up plans to ditch their giant hot-air balloon today and decided to try to complete a flight across the Pacific from Japan, a spokeswoman said.

Branson, at 40 one of Britain’s wealthiest men, and Lindstrand are trying to become the first people to cross the Pacific in a balloon.

They were planning to land in the ocean in the next 10 to 24 hours because they believed they did not have enough propane gas, which heats the air in their balloon, to finish their record attempt, spokeswoman Lori Levin said in Los Angeles.

“But fuel problems are not as bad as had at first been believed and Branson and Lindstrand hope to reach the U.S. coast about 6 a.m. Pacific time Thursday,” Levin said.

The flight began Tuesday in Miyakonojo, in the southern tip of Japan. Branson, the owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records and a host of other enterprises, and Lindstrand, a former Swedish air force pilot, hoped to complete their 5,000- to 6,000-mile flight to somewhere in the Pacific Northwest in two days.

The flight by Branson and Lindstrand started well.

The pair safely hitched a ride on a jet stream at about 31,400 feet and were being propelled eastward by winds raging at nearly 186 m.p.h., said Japanese spokesman Hideki Beppu. Within hours after takeoff, the two adventurers had set a speed record for hot-air ballooning--180.9 m.p.h., Beppu said.

The previous record was 162 m.p.h., he said.

Branson, who has dedicated the flight to peace in the Middle East, released two white doves before stepping into the pressurized capsule of the balloon, Levin said.

“Here, after 18 months of waiting, the day they finally do lift off is the day the world is on the edge of war,” Levin said.

Miyakonojo, 590 miles southwest of Tokyo, was chosen as the launch site because it is under the normal course of the jet stream to the United States and a safe distance from busy Tokyo airspace.

The dangers of the flight were drilled home last week, when another attempt ended in failure and death.

Fumio Niwa, a Japanese balloonist, launched a helium-filled craft on Friday from Yokohama. Rescuers found him dead hours after he was forced for unknown reasons to ditch in the ocean about 290 miles off Japan.