People

By Guy D. Garcia

The Dutch crew of two men and one woman waited anxiously in Newfoundland for a month before conditions finally allowed them to launch their 46-meter-tall balloon. But at last they caught the weather just right. After a flawless flight across the Atlantic, Pilot Henk Brink, 42, his wife Evelien, 31, and Fighter Pilot Willem Hageman, 39, last week became the first Europeans to accomplish the balloon voyage and, with a time of 51 hrs. 14 min., shaved more than a day off the old record. "A piece of cake," said Hageman. The only hitch in their speedy journey (up to 76 m.p.h.) was when the Dutch Viking touched down a little fast in a wheatfield twelve miles east of Amsterdam; Brink was thrown out of the gondola and slightly injured his hip. The $2 million trip's highlight? Evelien loved "sitting on the afterdeck at night and enjoying the constellation (while) the balloon turned continually."