He spent 10 days on a reef between Queensland and New Caledonia before being rescued. I am an adventurer and this is the way I lead my life. Fossett had planned to take off on Tuesday for his fifth solo attempt, but weather conditions are not right. That window of opportunity has been put back to Thursday at the earliest. He has chosen to pass over Australia, Chile Argentina, South Africa' across the Indian Ocean and back to Australia because of political unrest in the Northern Hemisphere.
China is still a show-stopper for balloon flights.
And there are various Muslim countries which may be hostile towards the United States at any given time. We are still not allowed to fly over Libya, Afghanistan or Iraq. Fossett said he would launch from WA so that he would have two days flying above land to determine the equipment was working well, and to get weather forecasts. One of the areas of concern is off the east coast of Australia. There is a very real thunderstorm risk.