World Record Attempts

World Record Attempts

Sir Richard Branson has been involved in many world record breaking activities;

1986 His boat Virgin Atlantic Challenger II crossed the Atlantic Ocean in record breaking time.

1987 Virgin Atlantic Flyer was the first air balloon to ever cross the Atlantic.

1991 The Virgin Atlantic Flyer crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Artic Canada at record speeds of up to 245 miles an hour! Now that’s fast.

1995 – 1998 Richard Branson made various attempts to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon however the weather never prevented him from seeing this dream come into life. They were in fact beaten by a Swiss firm in 1999.

Innovations

‘Flying without Fear’ program was established on 4 April 1998. It helps people overcome their fear of flying.

It is a one day program that is aimed at conquering a person’s fear of flying. The program consists of a session run by a VS pilot in the morning that discusses safety but also teaches people about things such as what are the normal sounds that would be heard during a flight and why they occur. This is then followed by a session on relaxation techniques.

At the end of the day session, participants are given the opportunity to conquer their fear and participate in a short flight.

As recently seen on The View, where Whoopi Goldberg went through the program live on air on the April 01 2009 to conquer her fear of flying.