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CNN Live At Daybreak

Around the World Balloon Trip Aborted

Aired August 17, 2001 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn to Jeff Flock at Mission Control in St. Louis with the latest on Steve Fossett's aborted mission. He was trying to fly around the world, Jeff, and he only got halfway there.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I'm going to turn to you here. I'm sorry, I was turned around but I'm trying to get Joe Ritchie to come over to us because he may even be down or quite close to being down.

JOE RITCHIE, MISSION DIRECTOR: Yes.

FLOCK: Where is he?

RITCHIE: I think he's down. Last we could hear, as Tim was talking him down, was a crunching noise like you would hear. Then the antenna would normally break off and he lost contact. So I assume he's on the ground.

FLOCK: So, that's your assumption based on the fact that you were talking to him.

RITCHIE: Right, right. Actually, Tim was talking to him, but that's highly probable.

FLOCK: How was that as he got in? Do you have any idea where that was. Was he close to Bage?

RITCHIE: Close, yes, but we don't have a better fix than that because we lose position reports as well.

FLOCK: So, we think he's somewhere near there?

RITCHIE: Yes, yes. For those of you who didn't get A's or B's in geography, it's the southern tip of Brazil.

FLOCK: The southern tip of Brazil. How far from the coast? He was a good 50-60 miles from the coast.

RITCHIE: I think a good 50 or 60, probably more.

FLOCK: So he was not in danger of getting out over the water?

RITCHIE: Right. He had plenty of room to work with. FLOCK: You've been on these missions, you were recovery director for one of them. What's he do now? I mean you don't have any people on the ground there. He's on his own.

RITCHIE: Yes. Well, people collect and it's a big cleanup operation. I did one of those in India and I directed one for the Coral Sea. They're both -- it's just a lot of cleanup.

FLOCK: Now, I saw your translators were on the line with air traffic control there, trying to clear. I just saw a little bit ago. Will you get the first report from them, the confirmation that he's on the ground? Or how will that come to you?

RITCHIE: No, I'll bet it comes from someone on the ground because they're also in the dark. They're sitting in a control room with a radar and it doesn't show them anything on the ground. Usually what happens is, I remember in India it took about a day to actually find where he was. Now, I think it will be a little better in Brazil. But people on the ground will find it. They'll call the police, the police will call the news media and then we'll hear from you CNN probably in Brazil.

FLOCK: Well, we're working on it as we speak right now. But just to confirm for our viewers, the way this is played out is Tim Cole, who is the project manager here, was on the line talking him down and then you lost contact, which makes you think that you would have lost your antenna once you hit the ground. You heard a crunching sound?

RITCHIE: Right. Tim actually could hear the noise that you would expect to hear on a landing, then lost contact which you expect from a broken antenna.

FLOCK: So all assumptions would be he's on the ground.

RITCHIE: That's the assumption right now. He could have ballooned back up, but even if he did that I assume he's come back down again. So we'll just wait to hear from your folks on the ground.

FLOCK: As we will. We are searching out there, believe me.

What's going through your mind right now, Joe? As we were talking earlier before about it's a bit of a disappointment but it was an easy decision in another way, because you didn't want to jeopardize him.

RITCHIE: Yes, it's like the hardest and the easiest decision in aviation. You give up your objective but you get your feet back on the ground, and you live to try it another day.

FLOCK: Sir, I appreciate it.

RITCHIE: Thank you.

FLOCK: Joe Ritchie, thank you very much. Mission control director here. A mission that we believe now, although no independent confirmation from the ground, we believe has come down about 50, perhaps 60 miles short of the coast of Brazil, we believe near the town of Bage.

To reconfirm or just recap what Joe Ritchie had to say what they believe happened, as Tim Cole, who was the project director, was talking Steve Fossett down they heard a crunching noise. They believe that would be characteristic of the landing because after that they lost communication with the antenna going down. So, that's what we think has happened.

It now turns to our folks on the ground or in the air, wherever they are now pursuing him in Brazil. Carol, Colleen.

LIN: That's right, Jeff. Definitely we've got a crew en route. Hopefully we'll be there in the next hour or so. Thanks so much. Jeff Flock from mission control in St. Louis.

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