Balloonists Attempt Record Channel Crossing

Editorial Staff

Saturday, April 08, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Eighty-two hot-air balloonists successfully flew from England to France across the English Channel in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record.
The flight, which launched from Dover and landed in Calais, was described by organizers as incident-free and delightful.
The endeavor surpassed the previous record of 49 balloons, though Guinness officials still need to work with organizers to certify the new record due to missing pre-attempt paperwork.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Eighty-two hot-air balloonists launched from England on Friday morning and flew 26 miles across the English Channel to land in France, in an attempt to set a new Guinness world record. The previous record was 49, set in 2011. Steve Mabbutt, one of the organizers of the effort, said, “Everybody is absolutely delighted,” according to the UK Telegraph.”It’s a large number of balloons on a beautiful day, it was incident-free and, to be honest, we couldn’t have asked for more. It all went to clockwork. The pleasure it brings a lot of people is fantastic — it’s a very unusual thing to see.”

The first balloons launched about 6 a.m. on Friday from Dover and landed safely in Calais about three hours later. Guinness officials said paperwork that should have been completed prior to the attempt was never received, but they will work with the organizers to try to verify and certify the record.