ADVENTURER David Hempleman-Adams has been forced to abandon his bid to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.

Mr Hempleman-Adams, from Box, set off on Tuesday just before 11am British Summer Time but by early afternoon he had been forced to land.

A spokesman at flight control centre in Bath said it appeared that the autopilot of the Chase De Vere Atlantic Challenger was not working properly and that made it too dangerous to continue as it meant Mr Hempleman-Adams would not be able to sleep at all during the six-day flight over the Atlantic.

Flight director Dr Dave Owen, based at the Bath control centre, said it had been a very serious decision to take but it had been done collectively.

He said: "We made the decision, after talking it over with David, to bring him down because we don't want to take any risks.

"One of the reasons we chose to launch from Pittsburgh was so the flight path would take the balloon over land for two days enabling a safe landing in the event of technical problems."

He said Mr Hempleman-Adams was very disappointed at having to abort his record-breaking efforts.

He began his bid to fly solo over the Atlantic from Allegheny County Airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He was hoping to beat five records, including the solo world distance record of 3,337.5 miles for helium and hot-air balloons.

Speaking from Chase de Vere's Bath offices, marketing director David Newman said: "While this is disappointing it is not unusual for balloons to have technical hitches.

"Safety is our first concern. We are proud of our investment in David and we admire his professionalism.

"We also know from past experience that he perseveres at whatever he does. It took him three attempts to walk to the North Pole before he finally succeeded and we know that he will have the same attitude with this record attempt. We will be back next year."

Mr Hempleman-Adams was flying in a Roziere balloon. The first Roziere balloon attempt ended in tragedy in the 18th century.

The inventor of the helium and air powered balloon, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Roziere, attempted to cross the English Channel in 1785 but both he and his passenger were killed when the balloon caught fire. Mr Hempleman-Adams acquired his interest in adventuring while working towards his Duke of Edinburgh awards in school.

He has climbed the highest mountains in all seven continents and was the first Briton to walk unsupported to the South Pole.

His challenges at the North Pole including trekking 600 miles from the Arctic Ocean to the pole and took the Guinness record in 2001 for being the first person to fly single-handed to the North Pole.

His last record-breaking attempt, to fly a hot air balloon over the world's highest and most famous mountain, Everest, was also brought to an early end when the Chinese authorities refused to allow him to do so.