Balloonist lands in Australia
BIRDSVILLE, Australia (AP) – Steve Fossett safely landed his Spirit of Freedom balloon early Thursday near a dried-up lake in the Australian Outback, finally ending his record breaking flight around-the-world. The American adventurer touched down about 870 miles northwest of Sydney and bumping along the ground for 15 minutes before stopping.
Viewed from a small Beechcraft plane circling the landing site, Fossett clambered out and waved to members of his recovery crew.
At least three members of the crew were briefly dragged as they clung to ropes to help Fossett deflate the balloon. None appeared hurt.
Later, officials at mission control in St. Louis confirmed Fossett had landed safely and spoke with him via satellite phone.
Fossett said he had some problems deflating the balloon, but his ground crew helped him.
“The problem of not being able to deploy the deflation system meant I could be dragged for ever,” Fossett said. He said he had braced himself inside the capsule ahead of the landing and was not injured.
“I don’t plan to make any more major balloon flights,” he said.
Just hours earlier, Fossett had to climb out of his capsule in the freezing Australian night to put out a fire caused by a loose burner hose. The 58-year-old Chicago millionaire sailed into the record books Tuesday night as he crossed east of 117 degrees longitude to become the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.
But gusty winds in Australia meant he had to wait until early Thursday to touch down.
Fossett said the fire started immediately after a hose fitting came loose. He was able to put out the fire by shutting off a ball valve joint, which is used to attach the hose to propane fuel tanks and the balloon’s burner.
The shock of hearing about the fire – the first emergency of Fossett’s sixth attempt to circumnavigate the globe – came with relief at mission control, since Fossett reported the fire in the same note in which he said it was out.
“When it happened, it was a big deal,” said Joe Ritchie, Fossett’s mission control director. “Even though the flight is over and you’re flying low, you can still get killed.”
His exact landing location in the Australian desert was not immediately available. His team earlier targeted a dawn landing near Birdsville, an Outback settlement of about 100 people known for an annual September horse race that draws thousands of people, but he put down some distance from there.
“Balloon landings are messy,” Ritchie said. “Unless you have no wind, you’re going to get dragged.”
When his cramped capsule touched the ground, Fossett was to release a panel to let helium and hot air escape from the balloon. If the balloon had stayed partially inflated, it could have acted as a sail and dragged Fossett’s closet-sized capsule for miles.
Breaking the record, Fossett spent nearly two weeks living on military-like rations, breathing from oxygen cylinders and using a bucket as a toilet.
British tycoon Richard Branson – who also has tried and failed to do what Fossett did – said his achievement was greater than that of Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic.
“Steve Fossett deserves his place in the record books alongside Lindberg. It has been an incredible feat,” said Branson in a statement.
The voyage around the world began June 18 in western Australia and took him exactly 13 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds. By the time he landed, he had spent nearly 15 days aloft.
Fossett was able to sleep only about four hours a day during this trip, usually 45 minutes at a time.
High-altitude winds powered Fossett’s Spirit of Freedom balloon along at speeds of up to 200 mph over the Southern Hemisphere – spending most of his time over water and avoiding any countries that might object to his presence in their air space.
As well as becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe, Fossett also smashed two of his own previous records for the longest duration solo flight and the furthest solo flight.
Fossett holds other world records in ballooning, sailing and flying airplanes. He also swam the English Channel in 1985, placed 47th in the Iditarod dog sled race in 1992 and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996.
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Associated Press Writers Jim Suhr and David Scott contributed to this report from St. Louis.
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On the Net:
Mission control, http://www.spiritoffreedom.com