Sir, - So another balloonful of aerial argonauts bites the dust, or in this case, the Pacific (The Irish Times, March 8th). It should be clear to them by now that they are going about the task in an incorrect manner, so I believe that a bit of lateral thinking is called for. By ignoring a fundamental law of nature, these balloonists prove that they are indeed full of hot air.
My advice is to proceed as follows. It is well known that the earth rotates once on its axis every 24 hours. Therefore, all that is required is to elevate oneself in one's balloon to a height of, oh, let's say, 2,000 feet above the launch site (which should, preferably, be near the equator), and remain absolutely motionless for the requisite time, that is to say, a day and a night. The earth, in the interim, will have revolved in a full circle, 360 degrees, whereupon, finding oneself once more at or near the place where one took off, one alights from one's balloon to a hero's welcome.
That's all there is to it - let the earth do the work. - Yours, etc.,
D. K. Henderson, Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3.