Word: flighted
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Although Richard Branson and his team have avoided the ignominy of aborting their balloon flight because of Chinese territorial sensitivity, they're not home free by any stretch. The crew of the ICO Global hot-air balloon is now wafting over Tibet in search of a fast draft that will carry them swiftly eastward -- and out of Chinese airspace...
...airfield in Lhasa, Tibet, Tuesday, but the balloon overshot the target and couldn't come down anywhere else in the mountainous region. An appeal by British prime minister Tony Blair finally secured them the right to overfly northern China, the last geopolitical hurdle on their round-the-world flight. But the threat of ice buildup forced ICO Global to use more fuel than anticipated to stay above the Himalayan clouds, and with sluggish winds pushing them along at 50 mph -- less than half the speed needed to reach Europe -- the success of the mission is still an open question...
...Hudson River to the FBI's office at New York City's Federal Plaza. Sitting blindfolded in the chopper next to the bureau's Lewis Schiliro was Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the Trade Center attack, who had just been nabbed in Pakistan. During the transatlantic leg of the flight back to the U.S., Yousef had bragged that his original plan had been to plant enough explosives in one of the 110-story twin buildings to topple it, killing maybe 250,000 people in the tower and on the ground. But his shoestring operation couldn't afford enough dynamite...
...LINDBERGH His 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic made him, at 25, the most famous person on the planet. A. Scott Berg records what happened to the aviator before, during and after his transcendent triumph. The later life proves especially poignant, not only because of his child's murder. Lindbergh came to dislike commercial aviation and was accused of pro-Nazi sympathies. A hero who flew so high became a troubled human back on the ground...
...landing options in sight, and striving to to steer their craft southward. Meanwhile, their liaison on the ground -- along with the British government and former prime minister Edward Heath -- continues to make appeals to the Chinese. It's par for a rough course: Over the weekend, Libya gave the flight a last-minute reprieve after suddenly withdrawing permission. The hot-air balloon took off from Marrakech, Morocco, on Friday morning, and could reach Europe by New Year's if all goes smoothly. Too bad they didn't take along one of these killjoy politicians, who could probably provide an inexhaustible...