Louis Blériot of 1909. Like some of the other prizes offered by the paper, it was widely seen as nothing more than a way to gain cheap publicity: the Paris newspaper "Le Matin" commenting that there was no chance of the prize being won. The English Channel had been crossed by an unmanned hydrogen balloon in 1784 and a manned crossing by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries followed in 1785. Blériot, who intended to fly across the Channel in his Type XI monoplane, had three rivals for the prize, the most serious being Hubert Latham, a French national of English extraction flying
Hot air balloon an open flame near the gas. All modern Roziere balloons now use helium as a lifting gas. Solar balloons are hot air balloons that use just solar energy captured by a dark envelope to heat the air inside. Hot air balloon can be steered to a limited degree by changing the altitude of the flight. Wind in the northern hemisphere tends to turn right due to coriolis effect as the altitude increases. To help ensure the safety of pilot and passengers, a hot air balloon may carry several pieces of safety equipment. To relight the burner if the pilot light