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CNN Live At Daybreak

Steve Fossett Attempting to Land Balloon Safely

Aired August 17, 2001 - 07:58   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 want to bring you right up to date on a developing story we've been following here on CNN. As we've been reporting, Steve Fossett is giving up his bid to travel around the world in a balloon nonstop. He's bringing that balloon down.

Jeff Flock is at mission control in St. Louis, and he joins us now with more -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol and Colleen, where they are right now is in the -- in the midst of trying to get that balloon down as safely as possible and trying to target a spot. You see this team back behind me. You see Bob Rice in the -- in the blue shirt there. He's the weather team leader. Joe Ritchie in the -- with his back to us, we talked to last hour, in the -- in the green shirt there. They are now trying to get this balloon down as safely as possible.

I want to get the very latest on where and how soon. I've got Keith Bennett who is a professor here at Washington University.

Give me your target? Where are you trying to put this down right now?

KEITH BENNETT, PROFESSOR, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: We are currently expecting to put down somewhere near the town of Bage in Brazil, right on the Brazilian-Uruguay border.

FLOCK: How close to the coast is that?

BENNETT: We're still probably 60 to 80 nautical miles away from the coast.

FLOCK: OK, so there's no danger that he gets too far out and winds up in the water?

BENNETT: No, I don't think so at this point.

FLOCK: OK. Give me a sense for what you go through to get that down and how soon do you think it might take place?

BENNETT: It may take place anytime. Steve has been bringing it down. He's been talked through by Tim Cole, the project manager, going through the details of how to make sure everything's safe so there's no things flying around the cabin or anything like that when he lands. Given his experience and capabilities, he may put it down without tipping over at all. May be a straight landing.

FLOCK: Obviously you folks have been through this before. We talked to Joe Ritchie earlier who has been through this before. You are obviously not putting down in water, which is -- that's a good thing.

BENNETT: Right.

FLOCK: But other than that, you've got nobody on the ground there. He is on his own when he hits the ground, yes?

BENNETT: At this point, yes. But he has gone through this before, and we don't anticipate any major problems.

FLOCK: Got you.

BENNETT: We have been talking to people in Brazil and Uruguay even as we speak.

FLOCK: I want to try to talk to one of the students, because this has been a big student -- we've got Barry over here. This is Barry Tobias, who has been helping coordinate some of the student effort.

You told me you got about as much sleep as Steve has gotten over the course of the past 13 days or so. Where is your head right now?

BARRY TOBIAS, STUDENT: We are still with Steve. We are just worried about his safety, and until he hits the ground, we're not going to stop working for him.

FLOCK: This kind of decision -- I mean, there were disappointments. It's got to come in there somewhere. You obviously hoped to get all the way around the world, but what goes through your mind on that front?

TOBIAS: I don't think it has hit us quite yet. I think we are just waiting for Steve to hit the ground, make sure that he is safe. And then in a couple of hours, once he is all settled down, then we'll realize what happened. And then it will hit us.

FLOCK: How has this experience been for you?

TOBIAS: It has been great. I have been learning a lot working with these guys and learning about perseverance and everything else and how -- where (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are in the Pacific. So it's -- about everything.

FLOCK: Got you. And before we get away, Keith, could you just come over to the map here? Because I want to give our viewers just the best indication that they can -- that we can of where you are. You are looking right here. Jeffrey, come on over here, see if you can get this perhaps a crude map.

BENNETT: You can see this is the plot of his trip thus far, and he wound up right about there. Is that right? BENNETT: Approximately right in between this little green pin and the coastline is where he will come down at.

FLOCK: And again, best guess on how soon?

BENNETT: It could be any time. I don't have an exact time at this point.

FLOCK: OK. Keith, appreciate it -- Professor Keith Bennett here at Washington University.

One more look perhaps over this way, we can see huddling -- Jim Mitchell also huddling over there, as well as Bob Rice. I think -- are we at the point where -- hey, Keith? Could I get you back here for a second?

Are you in communication with Steve right now?

BENNETT: Yes.

FLOCK: Are you talking to him right now?

BENNETT: Literally talking to him as he comes down.

FLOCK: And where is Tim right now? Is he behind the screen?

BENNETT: He is behind the screen.

FLOCK: OK. Just to give our viewers of where that is, if you look off -- Jeffrey, look off there. You see behind the screen, behind the other map that's off there to the side, behind that screen is where Tim is now on the phone with him. He is able to maintain communication with him as he comes down.

BENNETT: Yes. Completely all through the flight down, he has been talking to him and will talk to him all the way to the ground.

FLOCK: OK. And again, that's Bob Rice over there, who his weather date obviously a critical part of this decision to not -- to cash in the chips and not try to get out over the Atlantic. Because of the key problem was he was facing three more days of serious thunderstorms. Up all night last night dealing with those -- snow, rain, very difficult wind conditions. And that's not something they wanted to attack.

Before we get away, just one more thing, and that is here on the map, an interesting quote from Steve Fossett, who said, "This time not only do I plan to survive, I plan to succeed." But as you can see, the priority was survival. There will perhaps be another day to succeed, but for now, Steve Fossett, if he gets down safely, will have survived this run.

That's the latest. We will let you know when he gets on the ground and just what progress they have made -- if there is any other news that comes out of this. But as for now, that's where we stand -- Carol, Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: And right behind that map there you saw in Jeff Flock's shot, some people who do not want to be interrupted at this point as they talk him down to the ground -- Jeff, thanks.

We're going to go over to Carol now.

LIN: Colleen, I'm over at the international desk right now with one of our assignment editors, Eli Flournoy. All morning long, we have been trying to coordinate this midair interview with Steve Fossett. Obviously, those plans have changed.

Where is your reporter right now? And what is she trying to do?

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK: The reporter in the chase plane are in Puerto Allegra in Brazil, and they are now tracking the balloon. They're trying to catch the balloon descending here from -- leave from Puerto Allegra and then heading towards Bage, where we expect the balloon to try and land. We'll try and catch the landing of the balloon on tape, and then do an interview with Steve Fossett on the ground.

LIN: Now, this is supposed to happen in the next couple of hours. Is she going to make it? And how sure is she that he is going to land right there?

FLOURNOY: Well, there's a lot of -- there are a lot of factors that up in the air. There is an element of -- possibly of danger, with the -- of the balloon coming down, not knowing exactly where it's going to land. As we have heard the reporting that the weather has been bad. They have been dealing with thunderstorms. That's one of the reasons why they are having to land there. So there is an element of uncertainty about where exactly the balloon is going to land. And the chase plane has to try and find the balloon and match up with that to take a picture of the balloon landing.

LIN: So the chase plane is now chasing the balloon?

FLOURNOY: Exactly. Exactly.

LIN: All right. Now, you spoke to her just a little while ago. What did she say the weather conditions looked like?

FLOURNOY: Well, they have been having thunderstorms and bad weather in that general area. It's not dangerous, you know, as far as flying the plane or anything like that. But it is enough to obviously slow the balloon down, as we have heard, and create problems for the Fossett team forcing them to make an early landing.

LIN: We heard it live from mission control in St. Louis that they were aborting this mission. How did she hear about it in Brazil?

FLOURNOY: She also heard about it through contact with mission control in St. Louis and working together with the APTN crew -- the video crew that's with the chase plane. They were on top of it and immediately started changing their plans to be able to intercept with the balloon and try and catch it, as you said, on video as it is landing.

LIN: Now, they were going to try to actually do a midair interview with Steve Fossett. Had she been able to contact him in the plane prior to today?

FLOURNOY: Well, again, through mission control, we had received permission and Steve Fossett understood that we were going to try and do this interview, which would have been via radio communication with the chase plane next to the balloon and do a midair interview, which would have been relayed then down to a ground radio station and then through to us.

And they were prepared to do that, but then of course, now the team on the balloon is going to be focused on making a safe landing of the balloon. And then we'll hopefully be talking to Steve Fossett shortly after he lands hopefully safely somewhere in that area...

LIN: On the ground.

FLOURNOY: ... on the ground. Hopefully somewhere safely in the area of Bage near the border with Uruguay.

LIN: I know logistically it's got to be a nightmare. You will be tracking this over the next couple of hours, and we'll check back with you.

FLOURNOY: Right.

LIN: Thanks, Eli.

FLOURNOY: Sure.

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