GAZETTE & HERALD: Daredevil David Hempleman-Adams said investigations into his record-breaking altitude flight have prevented the team from celebrating.

Last Tuesday the explorer broke the world altitude record in a traditional open wicket basket balloon. He floated up to 41,000 feet beating the previous record set by Swede Per Lindstrand in 1996.

The flight took place in Greeley, Colorado but now US officials are looking into whether any rules were broken. They are investigating whether Mr Hempleman-Adams was issued with a US licence for the Roziere balloon flight, and whether he was in restricted airspace.

Father-of-three Mr Hempleman-Adams from Box, said he understood security was tight after the events of September 11 2002.

"The guy who arranged everything had done five flights from the same site before," he said. "He went through exactly the same procedure. That is why we were a little confused about the situation.

"It did put a dampener on it and we have not celebrated it yet. We just have to wait and let them go through their procedures, which could take some time.

"But they can't take what we did away from us. The Federal Aviation Administration might not be able to verify the record though if we have violated something. We will just have to wait."

Meanwhile Mr Hempleman-Adams is planning to have an understated celebration in his local pub The Bear, in Box.

"I will be in the pub on Friday night. That is the next thing I am planning for now," he said.

"I don't think attempting to fly over Everest will be the next thing because it takes a lot time for the permit."

The altitude flight took three-and-a-half hours in total to complete and was a new experience for the famous balloonist.

"I slowly floated up and it was beautiful," he said. "I could see the curvature of the earth and deep, deep blue sky. It was a little scary at the top."

And a copy of the Gazette made it up to the stratosphere as well.

"I had it in my flight bag all the way up and down. It went the full 41,000 feet with me," said Mr Hempleman-Adams.

Unlike his Atlantic crossing challenge, which took three attempts, everything on the flight itself went to plan.

"Everything worked well. Some of the equipment froze but not enough to create any hassle. It did reach minus 80 but to be honest I did not think about the cold because I had too much to do," he said.

"It was very exciting but it was more focused and short. But I got as much enjoyment out of this as I did climbing Everest."