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00:05 COMM: This is the dramatic moment Jonathan
Trappe's dream to cross the Atlantic in a cluster balloon system, came to an end.
00:16 COMM: Landing in a remote forest in Newfoundland
Canada, the intrepid adventurer was forced to cut short his pioneering attempt after
just twelve hours.
00:29 COMM: Earlier that morning at 6:30am the 39
year-old launched form Maine USA to a huge fanfare, as he set out on the 2,500 mile journey
across the ocean.
00:46 COMM: As news of the inspiring quest spread
around the world, thousands of fans followed his progress around the world on a satellite
tracking system.
00:54 COMM: It would be a moment he would never
forget.
00:58 TRAPPE: So beautiful, the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
01:04 TRAPPE: You can see one solitary ship.
01:08 COMM: Quickly rising to 20,000 feet, the same
height occupied by some commercial airlines, he was against the elements, with temperatures
dropping to minus ten degrees Celsius, and the air becoming so thin he needed his own
oxygen supply.
01:21 TRAPPE: I am at 20,000 feet descending 50
feet per minute so it's essentially level. With the balloons overhead and me right here,
going back to my oxygen.
01:35 COMM: But just a few hours later, and 19 thousand
feet, it became clear that Jonathan didn't have enough ballasts to complete a safe crossing.
01:45 TRAPPE: Hello team. Well, there's upbeat messages
and then there's this one. This is the message where I say, I don't feel that I'll be able
to do it. I'm over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to tell you the truth right now my trajectory
is good, my speed is good, oh it's really great, right now.
02:08 TRAPPE: But what's been demonstrated to me
during the first half of this morning is I can't peg an altitude and hold it for an extended
period of time. I can fly level but can't hold it for twelve hours for example. And
I don't think I'll be able to make that great crossing. Y'know there's a reason that it's
only happened twice. From the United States, with a gas balloon. It's not easy at all.
And yet an adventure still. Umm take a look. The beautiful sky, the beautiful open skies.
The clouds down below, so beautiful.
02:52 TRAPPE: And my balloons above my head, so
beautiful. Such a great adventure.
03:05 COMM: Forced to abort the mission and with
the sun setting, JOnathan was in a race against time to land before nightfall.
03:12 TRAPPE: I'm racing the sunset and the problem
is, if the sun sets, I can't land at night. I can't land at night, it's already rough
terrain and I can't see it.
03:20 COMM: With low visibility and thick cloud
below, he would later describe the daring descent.
03:26 TRAPPE: It was the most serious landing of
my life. I was coming down very, very, very sharply, y'know you can't tell where the ocean
ends and the land starts, all you can see is the mountains coming up and the skies fading,
the light fading and knowing that I've got to get down.
03:50 COMM: Needing to lose altitude, he frantically
cut away at his balloons.
03:54 TRAPPE: So it's literally at that point, cutting
away the balloons, it's like throwing away your dreams y'know.
04:11 COMM: Settling in the undergrowth, he set
up camp, before being airlifted to safety the next day. His epic adventure may have
come to a premature end but for Jonathan, his record breaking attempt to cross the Atlantic,
will live long in the memory.
04:25 COMM: It was such a beautiful, perfect launch,
I mean that morning on the airfield was awesome, something that will stay with me for my entire
life, so very proud to have gotten to that point where we had a system, a weather system
and an aircraft that were capable of the flight. So when I was taking off it was just the culmination
of years of dreaming and years of work and it was a tremendous experience, something
that I'll keep with me for my entire life.