A Person Changes Altitude By Changing Attitude

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On January 13, 1997, reports Richard Conniff in National Geographic, adventurer Steve Fossett climbed into the cock-pit of a hot-air balloon in St. Louis, Missouri, and rose into the sky with the ambition of being the first to circle the globe in a balloon. After three days he had crossed the Atlantic and was flying at 24,500 feet eastward over Africa.

The prevailing wind carried him on a direct course for the country of Libya, and that was a problem. Libya had refused him permission to fly in its air space, which meant he could be shot down. Of course, hot-air balloons cannot turn. When a change of direction is called for, what they must do is change altitude. At a higher or lower altitude a balloonist can usually find a crosswind blowing in a different direction.

Fossett vented helium, and the balloon dropped 6,300 feet, where it came under the control of a wind blowing southeast. Fossett skirted safely south of Libya, then heated the balloon, rose almost 10,000 feet and caught an easterly wind, which carried him back on course.

Although Fossett got only as far as India, he set dual records for the longest distance and duration in balloon flight.

Bertrand Piccard, another man seeking to sail around the world in a balloon, sees a similarity between balloon flight and daily life. "In the balloon," says Piccard, "you are prisoners of the wind, and you go only in the direction of the wind. In life people think they are prisoners of circumstance. But in the balloon, as in life, you can change altitude, and when you change altitude, you change direction. You are not a prisoner anymore."

A person changes altitude by changing attitude.

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