Balloonist clears the Andes

The balloon floats in cloud, 6,400 metres above Chile

American adventurer Steve Fossett has cleared the heights of the Andes in his Spirit of Freedom balloon.

He will now head out towards the Atlantic Ocean on his way to the half-way point in his latest bid to become the first person to fly solo around the world in a hot-air balloon.

He's getting excited that the flight actually may continue and be a success

Barry Tobias, mission control

His support team said Mr Fossett was beginning to dare to think that this time the voyage might be a success - after five failures.

But just a few hours earlier, Mr Fossett, 58, had to fight a three-hour battle to save his mission after his balloon went into a series of dramatic leaps and dives.

Click here to see a map of the flight

He crossed the Andes at one of the range's low points, where the peaks are only 2,100 to 2,400 metres (7,000-8,000 feet) high.

The balloon is now heading for the Falkland Islands, a distance that would exceed his attempt last year.

Barry Tobias at the mission control centre in St Louis, Missouri, said: "He's getting excited that the flight actually may continue and be a success."

'Yo-yo phenomenon'

Mr Fossett's mission control described his latest encounter as a "yo-yo phenomenon".

It happened when a possible sudden downdraft caused the balloon to plummet in altitude, and his autopilot then overcompensated, sending the balloon dangerously high.

Spirit of Freedom then cooled rapidly and began to dive again at high speed - a cycle repeated for three hours until Mr Fossett managed to stabilise his flight level.

Mr Fossett has spent much of his journey battling the weather

The multi-millionaire has now travelled more than 14,000 kilometres (8,800 miles) in his bid to become a record-breaker.

The journey has seen him spend much of his time attempting to avoid storms around South America.

On Tuesday he came "perilously close" to smashing into the ocean after attempting to avoid being caught up in storms.

Mr Fossett was also forced to use three gas burners to counter downdrafts during squalls east of New Zealand after his balloon dipped to as low as 120m (400 feet) above the waves.

The balloon left western Australia on 19 June for a round trip that, if successful, will cover about 28,000km (17,000 miles).

Mr Fossett's five earlier solo attempts ended with crash-landings in spots such as the Coral Sea off the north-east coast of Australia and a cattle ranch in Brazil.

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