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CNN Live Sunday

Entrepreneur Tries Again to Be First to Circumnavigate the Globe in a Hot Air Balloon

Aired August 05, 2001 - 17:53   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Entrepreneur and balloon pilot Steve Fossett is at it again. He is trying for the fifth time to become the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon like this. He has launched his Solo Spirit balloon from Western Australia, Northam, Australia, and he had picture-perfect takeoff there.

Let's go to the telephone now to find out how he's doing. Joining us from St. Louis, Fossett's flight coordinator Kevin Stass. Mr. Stass, thanks for joining us.

KEVIN STASS, BALLOON FLIGHT COORDINATOR: Hi, Stephen, how are you.

FRAZIER: I'm well, but I understand that you had some nervous moments. You lost touch.

STASS: Oh, yeah, we certainly did, just after takeoff. We had a problem with an aerial, and we lost our e-mail connection, which is the way that we communicate with the capsule and get position reports. So, there were a few worried moments, but I think Steve either kicked something or managed to sort something out with the aerial, and everything is back on track.

FRAZIER: Oh, I love that laconic sort of professional pilot attitude -- it was actually four hours of anxiety for you.

STASS: Well, yeah, it was. In fact, we got a lot of assistance from the air traffic control center in Melbourne, because in certain parts of Australia, around Perth, there was fairly good VHF communication. If this were to happen somewhere where there wasn't good VHF communication, it would have been a lot worse, but it's OK now. It's all sort of fixed, and we're all on track.

FRAZIER: And how is the weather holding up? Is it on track? You're getting a little lighter air, a little lighter winds that you would have liked.

STASS: Yeah, yeah, we would liked to be going a bit faster, but this is always a problem in the early stage, where you are just trying to edge toward something that is going to take you a bit faster. But it is picking up speed. We are up to about 35 knots now.

FRAZIER: Well, good luck for the rest of the course. We understand it is going to take about 15 days in all, so we will be talking to you again in the course of that time.

STASS: OK.

FRAZIER: Kevin Stass, thank you very much.

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