world records rbiter By Jan Tegler

OAnniversaries Photo by Jan Tegler Jan by Photo

Brian Jones meets Breitling,the ten-year-old Maryland girl named for the record-setting Breitling Orbiter piloted by Jones and

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Above: .Jones at the NASM with the Orbiter 3 Left: Brian Jones (left) and Bertrand Piccard during the cnostruction of the Breitling Orbiter 3 capsule, seen through the back hatch.

Breitling the watch brand and Breitling the ten-year-old girl celebrate an aviation milestone at the National Air and Space Museum few seconds after 06:00 Zulu To celebrate the tenth anniversa- lieve that it’s my name on the side of on Sunday, March 21, 1999, ry of this record-setting flight, Jones, the capsule. Although I remember AAeronauts Bertrand Piccard his wife Joanna joined a delegation the flight vividly, I still can’t quite and Brian Jones made history when from Breitling in October at the come to terms with the fact that I was they touched down on a high sandy Smithsonian Institution’s National one of the first two guys to ever fly plateau in the Egyptian desert. Twen- Air & Space Museum (NASM) in around the world non-stop in a bal- ty days had passed since their takeoff Washington, D.C. loon. I’m thankful that I had the op- from Château d’Oex, Switzerland, in Before Breitling Orbiter 3’s portunity to pilot the biggest Breitling Orbiter 3, a craft designed neon-red Gondola and an enthusias- ever built and that I was able to get it specially to attempt the first-ever tic crowd in the Milestones of Flight down without hurting myself.” non-stop around-the-world flight in Gallery, Jones reflected on the ac- Breitling was instrumental in the a balloon. After 477.47 hours, 25,361 complishment. effort, having backed the program miles, several close-calls and a daring “It still seems surreal even after through two earlier failed attempts by route, the record was theirs. ten years,” he said. “It’s hard to be- Bertrand Piccard in Breitling Orbiter

INTERNATIONAL WATCHDECEMBER 2009 www.iwmagazine.com 159 The Orbiter journey benefits the Winds of Hope foundation, which helps children afflict- ed with diseases asociated with poverty and malnutrition. Below, Breitling and her familty pose with her parents, Jones and the Orbiter. world records

1 and 2. Jones, the United Kingdom’s To learn more about the history- chief balloon flying instructor, joined making flight visit www.breitling-or- the endeavor as a flight controller on biter.ch or www.orbiterballoon.com Breitling Orbiter 2, helped design and manage the Orbiter 3 program, then A Breitling birth was pressed into service as copilot. As Jones and Piccard were wres- “Breitling was brilliant,” he ex- tling with fatigue, stress and a bout plained. “In addition to backing the of oxygen deprivation as their flight project, they stood back and let us get reached a critical stage, nearly 2,000 on with it.” miles north at approximately the

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Breitling Snyder receives a steel version of this Breitling Windrider Starliner from Jones at the recent anniversary celebration of the adventure.

same longitude, a baby girl was born congratulations. Later that year, to Howard and Sharon Snyder. Jones and Piccard met the Snyders The Annapolis, Maryland-based and baby Breitling at the dedication couple had been following the ex- of the Breitling Orbiter 3 exhibit at ploits of Jones and Piccard for two the NASM. weeks. They read in the news- Now ten-years old, Breitling Sny- paper the morning after their der and her family were on hand foe daughter’s birth that Orbiter 3 the tenth anniversary fete. Jones was had passed over their heads the delighted to see the girl whose name night before. was inspired by the Breitling balloon’s Inspired, Howard and his wife record-setting odyssey. It was the first named the girl Breitling. Three days time in a decade the two had been to- later when the aeronauts landed near gether and Jones and Breitling’s Lisa Mut, Egypt, the Snyders (who coin- Roman presented Breitling with a cidentally had visited the remote lo- Breitling watch of her own, a Ladies’ cale one year earlier) emailed their Windrider Starliner. C

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