ADVENTURER David Hemp-leman Adams was today setting off for America to prepare for his most ambitious assault on the record books.

Swindon-born David, 45, hopes to fly a wicker basket balloon solo 3,337-miles across the Atlantic from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the west coast of Ireland.

And should he successfully complete this perilous flight he will at last be revered as the world's greatest explorer.

But the modest director of chemical company Global Resins said that was the last thing on his mind.

"That's not the reason I undertake these sort of challenges," he said.

"I will not get excited until I'm out there and it will only be a couple of hours before take off that I'll begin to worry.

"Of course I think even harder about these challenges because of my wife and three children, but I never worry about dying.

"A couple of times I have been away and my sixth sense had told me not to do something.

"Last year I was going to climb Mont Blanc, but I had a gut feeling and backed out. Six of the guys later died in an avalanche."

David is hoping to set off on or around September 16, depending on the weather, and reckons the flight will take a week.