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American Morning

Around-The-World Balloon Trip Aborted

Aired August 17, 2001 - 09:04   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The big story this morning is something that just developed a few minutes ago. We're going to begin with the end of a high-flying adventure. Millionaire Steve Fossett is ending his latest attempt to circle the globe in a balloon.

Fossett covered more than 12,000 miles in the process. He did break the record for the longest solo balloon flight, but he ran into some rough weather over South America. He's going to attempt to land near the border between Brazil and Argentina sometime this morning. In fact we may have late word that he actually has landed. That's what we just heard moments ago.

Now we were reporting live from Fossett's mission control at Washington University in St. Louis this morning when the decision was made to abort the flight. Our Jeff Flock is still there. He joins us now with the very latest. Jeff, what are you hearing?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Leon. It's a little tricky, but they do believe that he is on the ground now, about 25 miles southwest of that airport we were talking about earlier in Bage, which is about 5 or 60 miles from the Brazilian coast.

The reason they're not 100 percent sure is that they were talking him down from this position here, as you can see this is mission control - these phones - and behind the screen over there perhaps you see that other map over there and that gentleman with a little video camera. Behind that screen is where they were talking him down when they heard a crunching sound and then lost contact.

They believe that hat was him landing, and typically the antenna would break and they would lose contact. But they have not heard from him or anyone else on the ground.

Off behind -- you see also the young lady on the phone, the gray- haired lady on the phone, she is one of translators that have been dealing both with the Brazil air traffic control. Another translator, the lady in black to the other lady's left, she is a translator who has also been helping -- was talking through Argentina air traffic control as he tried to fight those storms overnight.

That is what did him in. The rough weather that he already went through, then the prospect of perhaps two or even three more days of difficult weather. And having to fly low because of the low-oxygen supply that he has on board, couldn't get up high and get over the storms because he needs oxygen to do that. If he uses it up then he's out of luck and has no other alternatives and would have had to potentially ditch in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Before we get away, just to give you some indication of how far he got, and I'll tell how far we're going to get over here -- excuse me -- as we get around. They have been plotting it here on the map. Jeffrey, I don't know how well you can see this, but this is where it wound up here, somewhere near the Brazil/Uruguay border.

Now, again, believing that he is on the ground there we expect confirmation as soon as they get it, and a press conference here, just not too far from where I stand, and a final epitaph perhaps on this mission. You see it from Steve Fossett here: this time not only do I plan to survive, I plan to succeed.

Well, he had great success in some fashion, although not perhaps the full success that he had hoped, but it does appear that he has survived it. I guess that's something to be said for that right there.

That is the latest from mission control here in -- on the campus at Washington University in St. Louis.

HARRIS: Boy. Let me ask you about the storms that he was getting around or getting over, Jeff. It looked as though he had made it over there, but how dicey did that situation actually get?

FLOCK: Well, yes. We talked to -- and as I answer this question I'll give you a sense of where they were looking at that.

Jeffrey, are you able to see, if you spin all the way around there, that is the computer that they were -- that Bob Rice, who is the chief meteorologist who last saw, actually at the bottom of a quarry in Rockford, Illinois when Kevin Uliassi made one of his around-the-world attempts. On that computer back there, that is where they were getting the latest weather information.

What Joe Ritchie, who is -- if Jeff's able to pull out and reveal a little bit -- Joe Ritchie, the fellow now in a blue shirt. There you see Joe with his back to us, to that camera. Joe changed his shirt a little bit ago. He was indicating earlier that he was looking at perhaps another two or three days of bad weather, fighting it.

Again, without that oxygen to get him up high and get him over the storms -- you know he has no margin for error. As you can see, perhaps on this map better than anywhere, this is a long stretch of water. And that's a tough place to be when you don't have a safety net. So that's why the ultimate decision was made, Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, OK. So if they had more oxygen they might have actually kept on going.

FLOCK: Possible, it's possible.

HARRIS: OK, good deal, Thanks, Jeff. We'll be getting back there. We expect that press conference to get underway, as Jeff said, about 9:30 eastern. Stay with us. We'll get some word there straight from the horse's mouth, we'll be able to see exactly what happened.

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