• Swells were horrendous
• 'Happy to be alive'
• Slack wind defeats balloonists
• New record attempt just days away
• Related stories and sites

December 25, 1998
Web posted at: 10:06 p.m. EDT (0206 GMT)

HONOLULU (CNN) -- Three adventurers Friday abandoned their quest to make the first nonstop round-the-world flight in a balloon after getting stuck in a weather front that could have kept them stalled for a week.

They brought their craft down in waters about 10 miles north of the island of Oahu.

The eight-story balloon with British tycoon Richard Branson, American millionaire Steve Fossett and professional Swedish balloon pilot Per Lindstrand aboard, splashed down about 9:40 a.m. (2:40 p.m. EST/1940 GMT).

"We were dragged for at least a couple of miles and probably bounced 50 times before the balloon settled down enough so we could get outside the capsule and jump into the water," said Fossett.

They knew ahead of time that pins holding the balloon to the capsule were frozen and couldn't be pulled, Lindstrand said. The other alternative to crash landing was parachuting. They chose to land after looking at a deceptively calm ocean.

Swells were horrendous

"The swells didn't look that bad, but when we came down to fly them out, the swells were horrendous," said Lindstrand. "I've ditched quite a few balloons and even one aircraft, and this is the worst I've ever had for ditching."

They were in the water about 10 minutes in what Lt. Neol Ero, executive officer of the Coast Guard cutter Washington, called a "very smooth" rescue operation in 6- to 8-foot (2-meter) swells.

The Coast Guard had sent out two helicopters and the cutter Washington to rendezvous with the balloon. A Hercules C1 cargo plane was up in the air earlier tracking the craft and establishing radio contact with the balloonists.

Coast Guard search and rescue crew jumped into the water from two helicopters and stabilized the craft and harnessed the balloonists so they could be pulled from the ocean.

The three balloonists were airlifted to safety and were taken to Barbers Point Coast Guard Air Station about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Honolulu.

'Happy to be alive'

"We're happy to be alive," said Branson. "Obviously we are disappointed about not making it when we had it in our grasp. I am sorry to have to let people down," he added.

"This one was very controlled," Fossett said about his second balloon water landing this year. "It was within our safety constraints all the way.

"Whereas my falling in the Coral Sea almost killed me -- because that was in a thunderstorm in a ruptured balloon -- the most dangerous thing in the world," said Fossett.

U.S. Customs inspectors were waiting to meet the balloonists with customs declaration forms required of all those entering the United States. Then they were to be taken by ambulance to a hospital for examination.

The craft was not immediately recovered, but Fossett said plans were under way to salvage at least the capsule and the equipment aboard.

"We failed just because of bad luck weather," said Lindstrand. "We were there, we were so close, another three days and we would have made it."

"This is getting very discouraging. To get this close and not be able to grab the golden ring," mourned Fossett.

The balloonists had overcome man-made problems.

"We were beset with all sorts of problems from the beginning when we launched in Marrakech, but they were all political," Mike Kendrick, the team's project director from the ground control center in England, said earlier in the day.

"In the end, a weather problem is what stopped us, but that is the nature of ballooning," Kendrick said.

What stalled the balloon

Balloon pilots cannot steer or control their speeds with precision, relying instead on extremely fast, high-altitude winds to carry them around the globe. They navigate by changing the lift of the balloon to ascend or descend into different wind systems.

The adventurers' balloon got sucked into a low pressure system overnight in the Pacific. They had been moving the craft up and down between 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) and 27,000 feet (8,230 meters) to find a fast enough easterly wind to carry them to America's West Coast.

They had picked up an easterly wind, but at 14 knots, or 16 mph (26 km/h), it was not enough. There was no chance of any stronger winds soon, Kendrick said, and they would have been stuck in the depression for a week.

"In the middle of the night we decided it was a hopeless situation," said Fossett. "We decided to fly as close as we could to Hawaii to make it an easy rescue."

If the balloonists had made the West Coast, they would have broken the balloon distance record that Fossett set on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe earlier this year. He was forced to ditch then, too, in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific.

This voyage of the 272-foot-high (83-meter) balloon began in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 18, and if successful would have ended in Western Europe.

The three men were feeling "deflated -- like the balloon will be in a couple of hours' time," Kendrick. "I think we missed the (good) weather by an hour."

New record attempt just days away

Others are queuing up to break the around-the-world record. Colin Prescott promised that the Cable and Wireless balloon would be launching from Spain within three days, weather permitting.

He wished Branson a safe landing, telling Sky Television, "We have enormous sympathy for him. He has done a fantastic job. It is sad they have to come down so soon."

But he did add, "I wouldn't be human if I didn't say I would be happy for them to land short of their goal."

Crossing the world's biggest ocean was always going to be the most dangerous and daunting hurdle for Branson and his team.

During the journey, the team secured permission from 97 countries to cross their airspace. Iran, Iraq, Russia and North Korea refused permission, and the crew had some tense moments when they passed over China farther north than the balloon had been authorized to fly.

"I think you climb out saying, 'Never again,' but the next day you're climbing in, saying, 'Let's go for it,'" said Lindstrand.

But Fossett, who has made three unsuccessful attempts to circle the globe in a balloon this year, said, "I think it's time to go sailing."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.