ADVENTURER David Hempleman-Adams admits he will be "winging it" when he attempts to break the world altitude record in a traditional wicker basket balloon.

Swindon-born David, 46, was due to fly out this week to prepare for a crack at the Federation Aeronautique International record which was set by Per Axel Lindstrand in November 1996, but has postponed it until later this month. The Mears Altitude Challenge balloon, an open Roziere-class, is something of a lucky omen though as it is the same one he used last year to become the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic east to west.

David said: "The weight is really critical on this challenge and I just can't seem to shed any.

"With other record attempts I have done it's been a case that if everything works well you crack it the problem with this one is that it's down to a lot of technical details and we're just going to dust off the envelope and have a crack.

"We're spending about one per cent of the money previous teams have so we're winging it a bit, but hopefully we will get away with it."

David, who lives with his wife Claire and their three daughters in Box, near Bath, will fly out to Greeley, just north of Denver, Colorado, in the next couple of weeks to acclimatise ahead of a provisional launch date of Wednesday, March 24. The biggest obstacle facing David is the temperature, which will drop to minus 70 C degrees.

"We've got to be very careful with our equipment because metal will snap very easily and that concerns me more than any of the previous flights I have done," he added.