Trans-Atlantic balloon bid ends in failure

CARIBOU, Maine: A balloonist who was trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean using hundreds of helium-filled balloons has landed short of his goal in Newfoundland. It’s unclear what’s next.
Jonathan Trappe posted Thursday night on his Facebook page that he’d landed safely at an “alternate location.” He couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
He had hoped to be the first person to cross the Atlantic using a cluster of balloons. Instead of using a conventional hot-air balloon, Trappe was using more than 300 helium-filled balloons, like those used in in the animated movie “Up.”
The US man lifted off Thursday morning from Maine. By Thursday evening, he was well on his way, headed toward Newfoundland. But a couple of hours later, he posted that he’d landed. “This doesn’t look like France,” he posted on Facebook.
The airborne journey had been expected to take anywhere from three days to six days.
“The Atlantic Ocean has been crossed many times, and in many ways, but never quite like this,” Trappe said on his website before his departure.
In 2010, Trappe crossed the English Channel using a cluster of balloons. For his trans-Atlantic crossing, the basket in which he was riding was actually a lifeboat that could have been used if he ditched in the
ocean.
Trappe said he’d worked on the trans-Atlantic crossing for two years.