Over halfway around world, balloonist heads toward Africa

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Steve Fossett's Spirit of Freedom hurtled across the South Atlantic on a powerful jetstream Thursday, more than halfway through his quest to become the first balloonist to fly solo around the world.

Hours after crossing South America's snowcapped Andes peaks and Patagonian wilds, the American adventurer harnessed a blast of wind that whipped him along at up to 113 mph on a course toward South Africa.

The halfway point came as Fossett was concluding a pre-dawn crossing of Argentina that credited him with 9,773 miles since his June 18 launch from Australia.

He broached the 10,000-mile mark later in the day. Over the South Atlantic, the balloon was clipping along at an altitude of 23,000 feet at coordinates of 60 degrees south latitude and 40 degrees west longitude.

"The goal was to catch the jetstream when he was over the Andes and he has done that and he's there," Dehenauw said.

Fossett should face smooth soaring until he nears the southern tip of Africa sometime Saturday, but Dehenauw cautioned that thunderstorms were lurking in Africa.

He said Fossett will either try to skirt the storms or fly over the thunderheads above 26,000 feet, heights that will require stamina, fuel and hours spent breathing from a cumbersome oxygen mask.

Nonetheless, the 58-year-old American harbored no thoughts of quitting.

Fossett sounded upbeat Thursday after picking up speeds three times faster than during his Pacific crossing as he completed the 480-mile course over South America.

Fossett was leaving his last likely emergency landfall behind, though South Africa remained a possibility if problems were to arise.

His first five attempts all ended in crashes.

But Fossett e-mailed back via a laptop computer that the balloon was performing well and flying lighter after shedding weight from fuel consumption at the halfway mark.

"When he's going fast, he's happy," said Tim Cole at Mission Control, who said Fossett still had plenty of fuel, food and oxygen as he takes aim for western Australia, his launch site.

Still, vast expanses of the South Atlantic and Indian oceans separated him from the daunting goal of reaching Australia's southeast coast, more than 9,000 miles away.

And despite the all-around optimism, the flight has not been trouble-free.

Fossett talked earlier of critical situations over the Pacific in which he came close to being forced down by rainsqualls and downdrafts that made him descend to under 1,000 feet. Nearing Chile's coast at midweek, his balloon began suddenly losing and gaining altitude in a "Yo-Yo" effect that also jeopardized the flight.

"When you get into these tight situations it's dreadful," Fossett told a chase plane off Chile earlier this week. "Your life's at stake, you have to do the right thing or you aren't going to come through it."

Fossett's fifth attempt around the globe set a duration record in August 2001 of 12 days, 12 hours and 57 minutes aloft.

No balloonist yet has successfully soloed around the world, although Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard and English co-pilot Brian Jones did it as a team in March 1999 in the northern hemisphere.

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