"When the wind blows in the same direction
as your path,
it will bring you great fortune." (Chinese proverb)
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It's
the same in life, where free will only means the ability
to change our altitude to a higher psychological and philosophical
level, and to make the best of our inner resources to
adapt to the hazards of life. Bertrand Piccard, accompanied
on his third attempt by Brian Jones, took-off as much
for a trial in the school of life as for a sporting challenge,
as much for an introspective voyage of exploration as
for a circumnavigation of the earth.
After the failure of all other contestants, Breitling
Orbiter 3 finally took off on 1st March, 1999 from
Châteaux-d'Oex, in the Swiss Alps. The first
problem was to fly far enough south to conform with Chinese
restrictions forcing the balloon below the 26° parallel.
For Pierre Eckert and Luc Trullemans, the two weather
wizards, it was like threading a needle at a distance
of 15,000 kilometres.
Nevertheless, they succeeded. Taking advantage of low-pressure
over Mediterranean and high over India, sometimes flying
with the jet-stream and sometimes in much lighter winds,
and always 100% concentrated on keeping exactly to calculated
altitudes, the two pilots reached the Pacific in 11
days.
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