David Hempleman Adams Sets Another Hot Air Balloon Record

David Hempleman-Adams was born 1956 in Swindon, Wiltshire. He is the first man in history to reach the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents, a feat he christened the Adventurers' Grand Slam.

In 1984, Hempleman-Adams successfully completed a solo expedition to the Magnetic North Pole without dogs, snow mobiles or air supplies. Also he led the first team in 1992 to walk unsupported to the Geomagnetic North Pole. In 1996, he completed a solo unsupported expedition to the South Pole on January 5th, sailed to the South Magnetic Pole on February 19th, and led a team of novices to ski to the Magnetic North Pole on May 15th.

In 1998, Hempleman-Adams joined with Norwegian, Rune Gjeldnes, to attempt to reach the Geographical North Pole, the final leg of his Grand Slam attempt, which he described in a book called Walking on Thin Ice. He also became the first man to fly a balloon over the North Pole in 2000, a trip that emulated the ill-fated attempt by Salomon August Andrée, a Swede, to fly to the North Pole in the 19th century and which he also described in a book called At The Mercy of the Wind.

Hempleman-Adams has made seven Arctic expeditions. On September 22, 2003 he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open wicker basket hot air balloon. The journey was from New Brunswick, Canada to Ireland.


David Hempleman Adams Sets Another Hot Air Balloon Record By Mike Mitchell

		September 23, 2009, British adventurer, David Hempleman-Adams was successful in his attempt to set a world record on Sunday by flying over the fields of Maize, Kansas in the United States in his miniature gas balloon. Hempleman-Adams set two world endurance records, the first record was in the AA-01 class balloon, which had stood for more than 26 years in which the balloon was in the air for 8 hours and 12 minutes, Hempleman-Adams flight lasted 14 hours. The second broken record was was for having a bigger AA-2 class balloon. Coy Foster, an American had held the record of 8 hours and 12 minutes when he flew over Texas in May 1983. Hempleman-Adams flew more than 200 miles from Butler, Missouri, to Cherokee, Oklahoma. The area in which Adams was flying, was in an area that had thousands of turbine windmills on the ground throughout his flight path. This made it exceptionally difficult for his flight as the windmills had a tendency to pull Adams' balloon toward them. “During the night I got very close to one, a bit too close, but you just hope that you go to one side or the other. I thought I was going to be zapped by radio waves.”

David Hempleman-Adams was born 1956 in Swindon, Wiltshire. He is the first man in history to reach the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents, a feat he christened the Adventurers' Grand Slam. In 1984, Hempleman-Adams successfully completed a solo expedition to the Magnetic North Pole without dogs, snow mobiles or air supplies. Also he led the first team in 1992 to walk unsupported to the Geomagnetic North Pole. In 1996, he completed a solo unsupported expedition to the South Pole on January 5th, sailed to the South Magnetic Pole on February 19th, and led a team of novices to ski to the Magnetic North Pole on May 15th. In 1998, Hempleman-Adams joined with Norwegian, Rune Gjeldnes, to attempt to reach the Geographical North Pole, the final leg of his Grand Slam attempt, which he described in a book called Walking on Thin Ice. He also became the first man to fly a balloon over the North Pole in 2000, a trip that emulated the ill-fated attempt by Salomon August Andrée, a Swede, to fly to the North Pole in the 19th century and which he also described in a book called At The Mercy of the Wind. Hempleman-Adams has made seven Arctic expeditions. On September 22, 2003 he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open wicker basket hot air balloon. The journey was from New Brunswick, Canada to Ireland.