BALLOONISTS BANK ON TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE 'ROUND-THE-WORLD FLIGHT.

Byline: Malcolm W. Browne The New York Times

With another season of failures behind them but still fired by passionate faith in the possibility of flying nonstop around the world, balloonists are betting that many small improvements in technology will add up to victory in the next few years.

Like the creation of sailboats competing for the America's Cup or Formula-1 race cars battling for Grand Prix championships, the building of long-duration balloons has become a serious engineering enterprise costing more each year. Three balloon teams that tried in vain last month to circle the world spent a total of more than $4 million, and as more teams enter the race in the future, the price of admission will go up steadily.

The goal is to fly as long and as far as possible, but although that goal is simple to state, it can be reached only through a labyrinth of engineering problems, trade-offs and uncertainties, made all the more difficult by the human equation. Before the opening of next winter's season for round-the-world balloon efforts, engineers, craftsmen and meteorologists will recalculate ratios of lift to size, fuel requirements, rates of heat transfer and many other factors affecting balloon flight duration. The calculations will guide them in making construction changes that must be both ``elegant and affordable,'' as one balloon maker expressed it.

But even the most dedicated balloonists have had doubts about whether it is possible even in principle to fly a manned balloon around the world.

Richard Branson, the captain and main sponsor of the Virgin Global Challenger, recalled his doubts in an interview after his unsuccessful flight last month.

``As I was sitting in the capsule while our balloon was plunging uncontrolled toward the earth,'' he said, ``the thought crossed my mind that maybe a round-the-world flight really is impossible. But we stopped our descent in time to avoid a crash, and I've come back to my conviction that circumnavigation is possible. I'd put money on someone doing it 24 months from today.''

Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways and many other companies, believes that progress in balloon technology spurred by round-the-world efforts will lead to long-distance balloon tourism for nonballoonists.

``I can see a day,'' he said, ``once we absolutely button up this technology, when there will be fantastic travel voyages for people willing to pay for the marvels you can see only from balloons. I'm already picturing a brochure for such voyages - a brochure I dream of printing five years from now.''

One problem that has come to light is the need for much greater care in checking balloons and all their vital systems before launching. Two of the three balloons that competed this year were brought down soon after launching because of trivial errors in flight preparation that could have been easily corrected.

In one case, experts at Cameron Balloons Ltd. in Bristol, England, discovered late last month why the Swiss balloon Breitling Orbiter was forced to land in the Mediterranean Sea on Jan. 12, a few hours after it was launched. The pilots, Dr. Bertrand Piccard and Wim Verstraeten, faced suffocation soon after launching when their pressurized crew gondola became awash in ankle-deep kerosene gushing from a hose.

``The leak was the result of damage a hose clip sustained during the launch,'' said Don A. Cameron, president of the company. ``That clip cost 69 pence - less than one U.S. dollar - but it cost a million-dollar balloon a sporting chance at the big goal.''

Cameron's company is the world's leading manufacturer of long-duration balloons, including two of the three balloons that competed this year: the Breitling Orbiter and Steve Fossett's Solo Spirit, which got halfway around the world before running low on fuel and landing in India on Jan. 20.

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Photo

Photo: Balloonist Steve Fossett talks about his ill-fated balloon journey that ended in a rural Indian village Jan. 20.

Associated Press