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David Hempleman-Adams, Wiltshire explorer, finished fourth in the recent Gordon Bennett gas balloon race. He was forced to land his balloon because of thunderstorms. The evening before, Hempleman-Adams’s balloon and 11 other balloons started the race in Gap-Tallard, France.

The objective of the Gordon Bennett Cup is to travel the farthest distance from the launching site. The winning team reached a distance of 779.8 km.
After traveling 580.9 km, Hempleman-Adams and his co-pilot Simon Carey were forced to land in Worgl, Austria.

Unfortunately, Hempleman-Adams and Carey traveled a much shorter distance than they had the previous year, due to the bad weather and their high altitude. But Hempleman-Adams still described their trip as a “truly spectacular flight.” The pair of British pilots flew over the Alps, Mont Blanc, and Matterhorn.
Hempleman-Adams and his co-pilot were supported by their flight control team, which was set up in a Bristol hotel. The team consisted of Clive Bailey, their flight director, Jon mason, their flight controller, and Luc Trullemans, a weather expert.
Each of the 12 gas balloons was outfitted with the latest GPS tracking systems and meteorological technology. This technology not only aided the pilots in their flights, but it also allowed fans to follow the progress of the race online.
A real time map on the team’s website allowed their friends and family to watch each of the balloons as they traveled throughout the race. The map showed the latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and direction of each balloon as well as the total distance from the starting location. Hempleman-Adams and other team members also updated the team’s blog throughout the race.