Balloon quest ends in comedy of errors

Patrick Barry, a spokesman for the team, said both aviators had been picked up, with Melton sustaining a hip injury, cuts and bruises. "They landed kind of hard and Dave has this misfortune. His injury is in the hip area, (it) may be dislocated," said Barry. "Dave is alert and other than his injuries, he appears to be fine," he added. Earlier reports indicated one of the pilots had broken his leg.

After the pilots jumped out, the unmanned balloon drifted over eastern New Mexico, hit the ground, rebounded to its original altitude of 9,000 meters and continued floating eastward.

"The balloon did descend to the ground … but popped back right up and ascended all the way to 30,000 feet. In the darkness of evening hours the helium will contract … it should settle all the way to the ground, that’s our hope," said Barry.

A helium cell in the upper part of the balloon burst at 7.28 a m, ground crew said. "Forty minutes into the flight, they noticed a tear in the gas envelope," The crew did not comment on whether the two men would try again to break what is called the last great aviation record of the century. "Let’s get the balloon down first and then we’ll talk about other attempts," they said.