Memories of the landing of Piccard and Jones in Egypt
Published: Sunday, Mar 17th 2024, 07:50
Updated At: Sunday, Mar 17th 2024, 11:40
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While the international press only got to see Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones' balloon from the air in an aircraft provided by main sponsor Breitling after their first successful round-the-world flight, a reporter from SDA and a few other media representatives were the first to greet the two adventurers in the Egyptian desert. The reason for this was an exceptional landing permit at a military airfield.
Piccard landed with his helium hot-air balloon in the desert 800 kilometers southwest of the Egyptian capital Cairo after the record flight on March 21, 1999 at 7:03 a.m. Swiss time - in the middle of a restricted military area.
It was still unclear the evening before where exactly the Orbiter III would arrive. And even less information had been available in the days before. So without knowing the final destination, a journalist from the then Swiss News Agency SDA and some professional colleagues decided to fly from Geneva to Egypt on March 20.
Customer visit
They were able to benefit from the return flight of a 12-seater Pilatus aircraft that the aircraft manufacturer wanted to present to a customer in Cairo. However, even after their arrival at an airport hotel, no further information was available about the balloon's landing location.
The journalists were in constant contact with the headquarters of the Breitling Orbiter team in Geneva. And they tried to obtain permission to fly to the potential landing site from the relevant Egyptian authorities.
Unsuccessful desert excursion
At dawn on March 21, the journalists then took off in the Pilatus plane towards a military base in the Dakhla oasis - not far from where the balloon had landed shortly before.
At the military airport, after long explanations, a photo of the silver balloon and a few dollars, they managed to convince a young Egyptian to take them to the landing site. However, although they had received the exact coordinates of the landing in the meantime, the trip into the desert failed and they had to return to the military base.
First interview
The Breitling ground team had fared no better and so Piccard and Jones had to be flown to the base in a military helicopter. There they were welcomed by the few waiting journalists.
Despite their exhaustion, the two balloonists took a few minutes for a first interview before an Egyptian army plane took them to Cairo. The official reception for the record-breaking pilots then took place in the evening - this time in the presence of media representatives from all over the world.
©Keystone/SDA
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