NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — The premature deployment of a rescue parachute has scuttled the latest attempt by a French adventurer to set a free-fall record by skydiving from a helium balloon.
According to his website, Michel Fournier’s team was filling the balloon just before dawn during a takeoff attempt from an airport in North Battleford, Sask., when a emergency parachute deployed from his capsule.
Team officials say it may have been triggered accidentally by Fournier or by a change in barometric pressure.
Fournier planned to jump from a balloon at 40,000 metres and set a new free-fall record.