Steve Fossett’s quest to become the first to pilot a balloon around the world non-stop was in jeopardy Sunday, plagued by low winds and heater malfunctions that left him shivering in his cockpit.
It is “very unlikely” Fossett, 53, would complete his trip, Alan Blount, mission control director, said Sunday afternoon.
“Steve is very cold. . . . I honestly don’t know the duration of this flight,” Blount added. It is the Chicago commodities trader’s third try to circle the world.
The announcement came at a news conference hours after the Solo Spirit’s two heaters went out and he appeared headed toward the north side of the Black Sea over Russia.
“Steve is going to make the ultimate decision. . . . He’s a big boy,” Blount said from the mission’s control center at Washington University.
Blount said there was “serious discussion” Sunday morning between the mission control team and Fossett about executing a landing because “the wind track at that time showed that eventually he would begin to loop back to the northwest toward Murmansk and Moscow. . . . Obviously we didn’t want to do a trip to Moscow.”
The team believes Fossett could continue traveling eastward, rather than looping north, which would put over the very southern tip of Russia.
Blount said Fossett might still attempt to break his record of traveling 10,361 miles in a balloon. That was in January 1997, when he was forced to land in a mustard field in India because he ran out of fuel.
“If you set a record, that’s great. It’s a milestone,” Blount said. “If you get all the way around the world, that’s the pot of gold.”
The malfunctions left Fossett with diminished control over the hot-air portion of his combination helium and hot-air craft.
At 6 p.m. CST, Fossett was halfway across the Black Sea, 200 miles north of Turkey, flying at 21,000 feet. His speed wasn’t available. The team reported that a heater was malfunctioning in Fossett’s 6-by-4-foot passenger capsule beneath the balloon.
The heater normally keeps the capsule’s temperature at between 45 and 50 degrees. The team said the temperature had dropped but did not know how much.
“He said he’s cold,” said spokeswoman Judith Jasper. “He’s said he’s uncomfortable.”
The team also said one of the two propane burners, fired whenever the balloon must be heated for extra lift– allowing Fossett to climb or maintain his altitude– wasn’t working properly.
Fossett lifted off Wednesday from St. Louis and had hoped to complete his flight in 15 to 20 days.
Flight team member Gerry Everding said Fossett had taken enough propane fuel to last 22 days, but he would not say how much Fossett had remaining Sunday. As of Saturday evening, Fossett had used about 20 percent of the 800 gallons.
