Winds scupper round-the-world balloon bid

An attempt by adventurer Steve Fossett to fly solo around the world was wrecked today when winds damaged his balloon in Australia.

The Solo Spirit was torn when it blew over while about half-inflated, and flapped against its yellow cabin, which was ringed with helium canisters.

Fossett was not on board at the time and nobody was injured.

He said the balloon was so badly damaged it would have to be sent back to its makers in Britain for repair and would not be ready in time for a fresh round-the-world attempt this year.

’’I’m emotionally disappointed,’’ he said.

Hundreds of spectators, many clutching small balloons, had gathered outside the gates at Kalgoorlie’s tiny airport to watch the final preparations of the 140ft-high, 60ft-wide silver balloon.

Inflating the balloon with a mixture of hot air and helium takes hours and requires very light winds.

Even moderate winds can catch underneath the balloon and tear it during the first stages of inflation.

Before his team began inflating the balloon, Fossett, a 57-year-old Chicago investment tycoon, was upbeat about his chances of success.

’’This is the best-prepared balloon flight I’ve been involved in,’’ he said.

Fossett planned to spend about 15 days in a cramped capsule, breathing oxygen through a mask, eating military-style rations and sleeping no more than 45 minutes at a time for a total of four hours a day.

Jet-stream winds were to have propelled the balloon around the world at speeds up to 130mph and altitudes reaching 30,000 feet.

The planned flight path would have taken him eastward around the globe in the Southern Hemisphere, and almost 90% of his time would be spent over water.

The adventurer has tried the solo flight four times before.

Fossett’s first attempt to fly around the world in October 1996 started in Rapid City, South Dakota, and only reached New Brunswick, Canada.

A January 1997 flight began in St Louis and made it to Sultanpur, India. The next attempt from St Louis, in December 1997, ended with a crash landing in a wheat field in Krasnodar, southern Russia.

Fossett tried again in August 1998 with a flight from Argentina, but ran into a thunderstorm that tore open his balloon and sent him crashing into the Coral Sea 500 miles east of Australia. He was located by French and Australian planes and rescued by a yacht.

In December 1998 he attempted the flight with two other balloonists. They left from Morocco and came down near Hawaii.

They were beaten to the round-the-world record in March 1999, when Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard and English balloon instructor Brian Jones made the flight non-stop in the Breitling Orbiter.