THE SWINDON adventurer David Hempleman-Adams has picked up another accolade for his record-breaking crossing of the Atlantic in a wicker basket balloon.

The Duke of York last night awarded his team the Royal Aero Club's Salomons Trophy for the feat.

The Royal Aero Club is the governing body of British airsport and deemed 47-year-old David's 80-hour flight in September the most outstanding of last year.

It was the third time he had attempted to cross the Atlantic and the journey was far from uneventful.

He battled sleep deprivation, snow, sleet and biting winds at 14,000ft in temperatures of 17C.

And two massive supersonic booms from a Concorde flying overhead shook his balloon so violently it plummeted several hundred feet.

Last night, his flight director, Dr David Owen, Belgian weatherman Luc Trullemans, electrician Steve Phillips, air-traffic controller Kevin Stass and technician Tim Cole collected the award for the most outstanding flight of the year.

Logistics expert Lorn White and launch master Bert Padelt could not make the ceremony at the Naval and Military Club in St James's Square, London.

David, 47, said: "This is a great honour for us all we've never got anything like this before and we're delighted. And what makes it even better is that the whole team have travelled over here to collect the award.

"It's an honour to be voted by your peer group, but this is for the whole team not just me."

The flight was third time lucky for the explorer, who lives with his three daughters and wife, Claire, in Box, near Bath, having twice aborted previous attempts.

He beat the previous longest distance flown by a solo British balloonist 2,294 km or 1,433 miles when he reached the south coast of Ireland having flown from Sussex in New Bruns-wick, Canada, but eventually landed his AM-08 Rozier craft in a Lancashire hedge.

He said: "The reason I did it was to show that it's possible to be successful and not spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on equipment.

"I'd failed twice before, but still managed to do it and I hope this showed youngsters out there that if you fail at first it's still possible to go on and achieve your goals."

Later this month, David will travel to Canada again for a crack at the world balloon altitude record where he will attempt to fly the same balloon to 36,000 ft.

An adventurous life

David's amazing achievements over the past 23 years include:

1981 Achieved one of the fastest ascents of Mount McKinley in Alaska

1984 Became the first person to successfully complete a solo expedition to the Magnetic North Pole unaided

1986 Became the first Briton to walk solo and unsupported to the South Pole.

1998 Hauled his sledge through wind chills of -90C across the frozen Arctic Ocean to reach the North Pole

1999 Was aboard when the first hot air balloon flight was made in the Arctic and successfully crossed the North West Passage

2000 Became the first person to solo pilot a balloon to the North Pole

2002 Forced to ditch his wicker basket balloon only miles from the Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to fly solo from America to Europe

2003 Completed a record-breaking 300-mile solo walk to the Magnetic North Pole 60-miles of it with a broken ankle. He later dedicated the walk to the memory of close friend and ITN journalist Terry Lloyd who was killed covering the war in Iraq

2003 Became the first man to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic in a traditional wicker basket balloon

2004 Is awarded the Royal Aero Club's Salomons Trophy for his record-breaking flight across the Atlantic

Giles Sheldrick