Hard Landing

NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA: Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett's attempt to be the first person to circle the globe nonstop in a balloon ended Wednesday with a forced landing in a Canadian farmer's field, just 1,800 miles into the trip. The 51-year-old Fossett, who has climbed some of the world's tallest peaks, set records in ballooning and sailing and completed Alaska's 1,100-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race, lifted off from South Dakota's Black Hills early Monday and immediately ran into trouble. A faulty autopilot system, extreme cold and a dead heater left him with just three hours sleep in two days. Then the electrical and communications systems failed. As a pair of helicopters combed the region, Fossett changed course and headed for the Canadian Coast rather than risk landing in the frigid Bay of Fundy. Searchers soon discovered equipment the pilot had jettisoned to stay aloft, then spotted the bedraggled silver balloon skin near woods 65 miles north of the Maine border. An exhausted Fossett emerged from his all-weather capsule with few words: "I'm rather disappointed and embarrassed that I didn't do better on this."