A renowned British balloonist and scientist who set 79 world ballooning records has died after a balloon-related accident in Southern California, authorities and family members say.
Julian Richard Nott, 74, was injured over the weekend after his balloon with a pressurised cabin landed in a rural area of northern San Diego County, the Union-Tribune reported on Thursday.
About three hours after the landing on Sunday, "as he was packing up the cabin, it tumbled down the mountain with him inside," Roberta Greene, a spokeswoman for Nott's family, wrote in an email. "He sustained multiple head (and other) injuries."
Nott died on Tuesday at a hospital, the newspaper said.
"Julian was flying an experimental balloon that he invented (and) designed to test high-altitude technology," according to an obituary on his official website.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
San Diego County sheriff's officials said deputies responded on Sunday following reports that two people were injured after the aircraft landed near Palomar Mountain.
There is no information about the name or condition of the second person.
Among Nott's records is reaching an altitude of 16,764 metres in a hot air balloon.
According to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale - also known as the FAI or the World Air Sports Federation - Nott set a Guinness World Record in 2017, at age 72, for the highest documented tandem skydiving jump, from 9727 metres..
In 2014, Nott helped Alan Eustace break the record for the world's highest parachute jump, from an altitude of 41,419 metres.
The FAI website also lists dozens of Nott's other world records for feats of altitude, distance and time aloft.
Nott lived in Santa Barbara, California.
