Jonathan Trappe, an American aviator, has failed in his attempt to cross the Atlantic ocean with only the assistance of hundreds of colored balloons , in a scene reminiscent of the Pixar movie, Up.
Trappe’s flight was short lived as he crash landed after only 13 hours in Canada. He had planned to fly his 365 party balloons to Paris, France.
On Thursday morning, Trappe set off from Caribou, Maine, in terrible conditions, but he instead ended up crash landing in pitch black, just a few hundred miles away from his starting point.
Discussing his landing, “Honestly, I did not know if I would survive!” The 39-year-old was able to escape his basket when he landed, but still found the funny side of the incident. He wrote on Facebook, “Hmm, doesn’t look like France.”
His team released a statement confirming the journey’s failure, which read, “Sadly, Jonathan has been forced to abandon his quest after technical difficulties. However, he is safe and well.”
Richard Branson, has since sent Trappe, who works as as an IT project manager in Rayleigh, North Carolina, well wishes via Twitter. He wrote, “Commiserations to Jonathan Trappe, who has abandoned his Up-style cluster balloon crossing. I know how you must feel.”
Trappe, who specialises in cluster ballooning, had planned to fly 2,500 miles across the Atlantic under the balloons, which were filled only with helium. In the past, Trappe had previously crossed the Alps and English Channel with balloons, and he had even been simply suspended in the air on an office chair.
He had hoped to climb as far as 25,000 ft in the air, and the ride the winds to Europe. Trappe had believed that it would take between three and five days to make the 2,5000 mile journey.
Since 1970, five people have perished in their attempt to across the Atlantic via balloons.
