Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Balloonist Steve Fossett Discusses Aborted Trip Around the World

Aired August 20, 2001 - 08:16   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 are going to try this again. It is a long way to Bage, Brazil, and we have just hooked up our audio as well as picture to Steve Fossett. You know him as the 57-year-old millionaire, who was going for yet another record in his life -- the first person to circle the globe solo in a hot air balloon.

It did end Friday, as we reported, Steve, right here about this time of day. I am just wondering how you are doing? How have you digested the reality and the news?

STEVE FOSSETT, BALLOONIST: Well, I feel fine. I am recovered. Of course, I am disappointed, because I was looking forward to this being the flight that I would make it all the way around the world.

LIN: You look very good. How soon do you think you're going to be able to see your crew? I heard they got stopped at the airport, because they didn't have visas.

FOSSETT: Yes. My project director, Tim Cole, was deported from Brazil, because he didn't have a visa. He is in Buenos Aires now trying to get a visa to enter Brazil.

LIN: And the first thing, as I understand it, you're going to have to do is really assess damage to the balloon. How was the landing? As I understand it, it was very tricky on Friday. You had to make sure that obviously you hit ground and not the ocean.

FOSSETT: Yes. I didn't have very much warning. My team told me that the weather patterns had gone bad over the Atlantic, and that I only had two hours to land. And then I came down for the landing, and the deflation mechanism -- the deflation port didn't work. So I was just bouncing along on the ground and dragging for miles.

LIN: I don't even know how that could compare, though, to the nighttime crossing that you had just the night before, where you spent 11 hours over the Andes Mountain. You had the Argentine military trying to help you navigate through these thunderstorms. I heard you were running out of oxygen, and that you were simply exhausted.

What was going through your mind?

FOSSETT: Well, I went one night without sleep crossing the Andes, because I thought I would have an easy day the next day. But the next day turned out to be thunderstorms, and I couldn't sleep then either. So I was really becoming quite exhausted and very worried about my ability to continue to function.

LIN: Was it sheer exhaustion, or was there also terror -- some fear?

FOSSETT: Well, I didn't like the thunderstorms. I was brought down by a thunderstorm in the Corral Sea in 1998. And I don't want to do that twice. I wouldn't expect to live through that twice. So I was very worried about these thunderstorms.

LIN: That's right. I think in 1998, not only were you brought down, but then you were surrounded by sharks until your crew could get to you. I hope your hotel accommodations were better than that last night.

Now, at one point during that 11-hour ordeal over the mountains, you actually donned your parachute. What made you think that you might have to bail?

FOSSETT: The problem is that turbulence could cause the balloon to rupture. And if the balloon ruptures, I've got to get out of there. And so I wore my parachute just in case that happened.

LIN: But you made it through the night, you know. And I know you got the bad news. But was there anything in your mind that said, look, I'm going to give myself some odds. I think I can make it over the Atlantic Ocean.

FOSSETT: I have three of my most trusted friends and who really know this sport of ballooning and what we're trying to do as my advisers on this. And they unanimously said that it was not a good idea to cross the Atlantic. And, you know, you have to take the advice of your friends and experts at sometimes.

LIN: Personally, though, as you hear it, do you take it as face value at that point? Or internally, do you fight? Do you try to rationalize? Do you try to say, I've got to do it this time, now or never?

FOSSETT: Well, I presented them the other side of the argument -- why it should be possible to do it, and I asked them to reconsider. And they came back to me and all three of them said, no, Steve, you have to land.

LIN: And then how did you feel at that...

FOSSETT: And at that point, I had to agree.

LIN: How did you feel at that point?

FOSSETT: Well, it's -- at that point, I felt it was the biggest disappointment in my life, because I was ready to do this around-the- world balloon flight, have made five previous attempts. But the disappointment is, oh, softening a bit, and there's a lot of interesting things to do in adventure sports. So I won't run out of fun and interesting things to do.

LIN: Well, are you going to try again? I mean, there's always lucky number seven.

FOSSETT: I don't know. It's -- I am embarrassed to even bring up the subject to my team after they worked for me all summer on this. And we'll talk about it later, you know, in a month or so.

LIN: You know, you say that there are lots of other adventure sports, but I was reading your list of accomplishments here, and I don't know what's left to do. I mean, you have climbed the highest mountains in six continents, you have flown your Cessna around the world, you have already -- you now carry the record for the longest duration as well as the longest distance in a solo balloon flight. And I think you also threw in the fact that you swam the English Channel.

What are you going to do next?

FOSSETT: Oh, lots of idea. My very next project is to sail across the Atlantic from New York to England and try to break the transatlantic record. That's just next month.

LIN: That's just next month?

FOSSETT: Yes.

LIN: You are kidding?

FOSSETT: Oh, yes, I have a sailboat, PlayStation. It's 126-foot Catamaran. It's one of the fastest sailboats on the world. And we'd like very much to break the transatlantic record.

LIN: You know, Steve Fossett, I am beginning to look forward to being 57 years old. I think that's when life begins. Thanks so much for joining us -- wish you well. And I hope you get to see your team...

FOSSETT: Thank you.

LIN: ... and come home real soon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.