Free-fall record attempt fails

A French skydiver’s hope to set a new free-fall record was dealt another blow today when his ride to the sky left without him…

A French skydiver’s hope to set a new free-fall record was dealt another blow today when his ride to the sky left without him.

The helium balloon Michel Fournier was going to use to soar to the stratosphere became detached from its capsule as it was being inflated on the ground at an airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

The balloon drifted away into the sky.

It was the third time that Frenchman Fournier, 64, had mounted an attempt to set a new record by jumping from 130,000 feet.

He has done more than 8,600 parachute jumps and holds the French record for the highest at 40,000 feet.

The latest setback follows two unsuccessful jumps in 2002 and 2003. Strong winds tore his balloon the last time, but he bought a new one reinforced with three layers.

France refused to give permission for the jump on its territory, saying it was too risky.

A year later, the Canadian government granted him permission to launch from the vast plains of Saskatchewan, which has a very low population.

Fournier appeared disappointed as left the balloonless capsule and walked to a hangar. He was hugged by members of his entourage.

The balloon was reported to have cost at least #100,000 and Fournier was said to have already exhausted his finances.

An army of technicians, balloon and weather specialists arrived recently in North Battleford, a city of 14,000 near the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary, for the attempt.

Fournier planned to be three-times higher than a commercial jetliner when he made the jump. A mountain climber would have to ascend the equivalent of four Mount Everests stacked one on top of the other.

It was expected to take Fournier 15 minutes just to come down, screaming through thin air at 900mph — 1.7 times the speed of sound — smashing through the sound barrier, shock waves buffeting his body, before finally deploying his chute about 18,000 feet above the prairie wheat fields.