Globe-Circling Balloonist, Above Europe. Gets Nod to Fly Ober Libya

Just hours after he rerouted his flight Saturday to avoid Libya, Steve Fossett got permission to fly over the North African country on his quest to be the first person to pilot a balloon around the world.

Team members were reevaluating their options to decide whether they should redirect Fossett to seek wind currents that would carry him across Libya, said Tim Cole, a member of the Washington University-based team.

Libya’s hesitance to let Fossett fly over its territory last year led to the failure of an earlier globe-circling attempt.

Fossett, a 53-year-old commodities trader from Chicago, took off from St. Louis on Wednesday on his fourth try to circle the globe. His trip aboard his Solo Spirit, a combination of helium and hot air balloons, is expected to last 15 to 20 days.

Before getting Libyan clearance at 2i30 p.m., the team had changed Fossett’s course, directing him into air currents that would carry him southeastward to the Mediterranean and then northeastward toward the Black Sea, avoiding Libya.

By 4 p.m., Fossett was approaching Budapest, Hungary, directly north of Libya, at 86 mph at an altitude of 24,500 feet.

Lou Billones, the team’s chief meteorologist, said if Fossett could maneuver the balloon into a tropical jet stream over the Mediterranean, he would stay close to schedule.

“I have no doubts that we can do it,” Billones said.