A HOT AIR balloonist in the county has taken his basket a mile into the sky, which he believes is a world record.

Neil Fishkock, 58, from Welland, said: “Balloonists don’t normally fly to that high and going to 10,000 would requires oxygen.

“Up there I could see the curvature of the earth, The worm-like shape of the Malverns, even Bristol.

Mr Fishkock said he will receive verification on his record attempt from the Guinness World Records after they look at the evidence.

He used three altimeters to show the height in which the pair reached to qualify for the record.

For the challenge, which took place on the evening of Wednesday July 4, he was joined by co-pilot, Lottie Horrabin,24 and he called upon his 30 years of balloon flying for the challenge.

Digital maps kept him away from sensitive areas such as military establishments and airports and he changed flight level to ride different air movements to change direction.

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Taking off from Welland, he was initially heading in the Ledbury direction, when he cleared Welland, he started his accent to over 6,000ft then returning back down with a slight change of wind direction and landed in Bromsberrow on a playing field.

Mr Fishkock added: “On the record attempt I was on the edge and the adrenaline was well in there.

“If anything had gone wrong, it would’ve taken me at least six minutes to get back on the ground.

“It’s such a surreal experience.

“When I fly it makes me feel very small and very insignificant.”

Landing can be problematic but Mr Fishkock has a rapid deflation system for the balloon to allow him to land on a small area and not be dragged along the ground.

On landing, the balloon has the same kinetic energy as a double decker bus.

Mr Fishkock, who works for the flower company Syngenta, adorned the outside of the basket, fixed to a specially designed system as placing the flowers directly onto the woven basket would compromise the integrity of the basket and therefore breach flying regulations.

Mr Fishkock does not have any plans to gain his commercial licence which would allow him to take paying passengers as he said it would ruin the experience.

His support team helped with the challenge, by taking the balloon to the launch site and collection it when it landed.

A fire extinguisher is carried according to regulations in case the canopy or balloon catches fire.