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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fossett Balloon Trip at Critical Point

Aired August 17, 2001 - 07:23   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: We have been following Steve Fossett's trip in his hot air balloon.

We want to go right to Jeff Flock, who is at the control center with the latest on this -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colleen, pardon me if I'm a little disjointed here, but they are at a very critical point right now.

As you heard earlier from Jim Mitchell, they were to be making an announcement very, very rapidly, and I think they are almost to the point where they are ready to do that right now. We hope to hear the mission control director, Joe Ritchie, in just a moment come out and decide what they are going to do.

Now, just to give you some sense of what they are up against, let me bring you over to the map here. They have been plotting. Obviously, he is right at the point here, where he needs to make a decision about whether or not to head off across the Atlantic -- the South Atlantic. That is a big body of water, and if he doesn't have what he needs at that point, serious problems could ensue.

They have got a problem with not having enough oxygen. If he doesn't have enough oxygen, it means that he has to operate at a much lower altitude, and much lower altitudes open him to the possibilities of difficulty with regard to weather and all of that sort of thing.

It also takes away his margin of error. And I'm just -- pardon me, because I'm trying to keep my eye open to when Joe Ritchie comes out. I don't want to miss it. But opens him to problems -- closes down his margin of error, and that is he doesn't have the oxygen -- if he needs to go up high and get over a storm, for example, he doesn't have the oxygen to get up there and continue to breathe. So that's where we are right now.

Just to give you an indication of what's happening. Take a look behind the map over there. Jeffrey (ph), are you able to see off in the distance? We just saw Bob Rice head back in the blue shirt, you just can't see him now, but he went back behind that map. He is the meteorologist on the mission. He is the guy who is now making the determination about how bad that weather is out there. If it got real bad weather by the coast, you know, it's a situation where they maybe don't want to try and roll the dice. Right now, they are in a position over the land where they can make a decision and get him down safely -- get the balloon down safely, not lose the balloon or Steve Fossett. So they want to take that decision now.

Have we got Joe now? Super. I think we're going to get this -- I think we're going to get this announcement. But at any rate, this is why they want to make the decision now where they have a margin of safety. And I think we've got Joe Ritchie now, who is coming out.

Joe, hi. Jeff Flock, live on CNN.

What did you decide?

JOE RITCHIE, MISSION CONTROL: Well, we have reached the go, no go point. And to attempt to cross the Atlantic, Steve would have to face two or three solid days flying over a front, which would give substantial risk of icing. And he has decided to land rather than attempt it. So as they say in mountaineering, the mountain will be there tomorrow. The main thing is to make sure the mountaineer is.

FLOCK: I hear you. I know this is a tough decision you have to make, huh?

RITCHIE: Yes. But, you know, you've got to -- you've got to look reality square in the face and do what you've got to do.

FLOCK: Tell me exactly what you were up against.

RITCHIE: Well, there is a front that actually Steve flew into the end of last night and wound up in a lot of thunderstorms.

FLOCK: Right.

RITCHIE: And the front is slowly moving out into the Atlantic. His track, if he continues, will put him right kind of in the top of that front. And there is really no way to get out of it. So he is either fighting bad conditions for three more days, or else he has got to land.

FLOCK: Right. And where is he? Can you give me a sense, Joe, right where he is right now if you can right over here on the map? I know this was your last plot.

RITCHIE: Steve is right about here. And he has got to get down rather quickly, so he doesn't get his feet wet. If he continued, he would have continued on a track about like this, and the front is laying right along here and moving slowly the same direction he is.

FLOCK: How soon -- when you say -- you've got to get down quickly -- I'm going to get around you the other side, Joe -- how quickly are you talking?

RITCHIE: Well, I think he's got two or three hours.

FLOCK: And, of course, this is an important part of the mission, too, getting him down safely not that easy either.

RITCHIE: Yes. Landing something this big is tricky, and he shouldn't -- you know, he shouldn't have a problem doing it safely. But you try to do as little equipment damage as possible at the same time.

FLOCK: I want you to look over your shoulder there as we take maybe one of our other cameras. I see Bob Rice back there. His weather reports were pretty much what did it for you.

RITCHIE: Yes. Right. Right. You know, you launch out into these things, and you just hope that you wind up with a clear sailing, but you can't control where these fronts pop up. And this one just was right in his track, and there wasn't no way around it.

FLOCK: You've got a lot of experience with these sorts of things. I know it's disappointing when you don't get all the way to where you wanted to get. But what's going through the minds of the people back there as well as yourself at this moment when you make this decision?

RITCHIE: Well, you're just focused on doing what you've got to do. And what you've got to do is you've got to get the balloon down safely. And so you -- you know, you suck it up, and you do what you've got to do.

FLOCK: Right. What is your next step now?

RITCHIE: Well, he has got to get down where he can see what kind of terrain he has got. And then he's just got to find a decent landing spot.

FLOCK: And do you have any indication where that will be -- specifically where in Brazil? It looks like Brazil now?

RITCHIE: You know, I don't have an exact fix on it, but it should be to within 100 miles of the coastline. And it's going to be, I think, right near the border there of Argentina and Brazil.

FLOCK: OK. And before we get away -- too early to ask if you're going to try it again?

RITCHIE: You're going to have to ask Steve about that. After the last one, I think he thought, no way. But after the passage of some time, I think he rethought things and decided to try it.

FLOCK: All right. Well, I wouldn't know -- what we know about him, I wouldn't doubt that we're here again at some point.

RITCHIE: That wouldn't surprise me. I wouldn't bet against it.

FLOCK: Joe, we're going to let you get some sleep, although it's not quite in the offing yet, but maybe soon.

RITCHIE: OK. Thank you, sir. FLOCK: Thank you, Joe -- Joe Ritchie. Obviously there is the latest. That is disappointing at the very least -- a disappointing turn of events, but better safe than sorry, I guess, is the way it goes.

We're going to talk to some more folks here at mission control in just a bit, perhaps give you the rest of the story. But within the next two hours to recap, but it looks like Steve Fossett will sit down somewhere in Brazil and not head off across the Atlantic in what would be the last leg of his round the world journey -- Carol, Colleen, back to you.

MCEDWARDS: Jeff, this is day 13 of this trip turned out to be an unlucky one for him.

FLOCK: Well, it is tough to deal with that weather, particularly as Jim Mitchell was saying earlier with that sort of fatigue level and the prospect of fighting thunderstorms for three more days based on what he had already been through. Like Joe said, the mountain will be there tomorrow, but the mountaineer you need to make sure is safe.

MCEDWARDS: All right. CNN's Jeff Flock, thanks very much for bringing that to us.

As you have been hearing here on CNN, Steve Fossett will not continue his attempts to go right round the world. This is his fifth try. He is going to bring that balloon down, because of some weather issues -- a front that he just doesn't think he can get over safely with the amount of fuel and food and supplies and energy that he has got left right now. His flight director saying he's got to bring that balloon pretty soon before he gets out over the South Atlantic Ocean, so he is expected to bring it down in the next couple of hours somewhere in Brazil.

We'll keep covering this for you right here on CNN.

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