ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two pilots soaring over the Pacific Ocean have made history by surpassing an official world distance record for human flight in a gas balloon.
The Two Eagles pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, traveled more than 5,260 miles (8,465 kilometers) to put themselves in contention for the record.
It still needs to be ratified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, a process than can take weeks.
The rules of international aviation require the current record of 5,209 miles (8,383 kilometers) to be exceeded by at least 1 percent to establish a record.
Bradley and Tiukhtyaev set out to best both distance and duration records with their flight from Saga, Japan, which began shortly before 6:30 a.m. Sunday Japan time.
On Thursday evening, they were about 400 miles off the coast of California and heading south, where they planned to land in Baja California on Saturday.