Larry's Lawn-Chair Balloon

Apparently it is not that rare that people try to do this, and some seem to even be competing. This week somebody in the town of Paranaguá, in Southern Brazil attempted it, and is now lost. This priest, named Aderli de Carli, took off on bad weather last Sunday (Apr/20), with a chair hanging from a 1000 party balloons, and a GPS and satellite phone to keep contact. Apparently his last contact was asking for rescue, having problems with the cold at 5000m, and dying batteries on the phone, after drifting to sea. On Tuesday some balloons were found on the water, 150km from his takeoff point. As of today (Thursday), the Brazilian Air Force has called off its search, though a Navy helicopter and ships, and a private plane are still trying to find him.This was not his first flight, he was trying to surpass his previous 4h flight.

Some news references, including videos of his takeoff:

In English:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/24/priest.balloons.ap/index.html
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1313704,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgF0RYOmdDw

In Portuguese:
http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/2008/04/24/aeronautica_suspende_buscas_a_padre_desaparecido_1284798.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUOFnSSlrJo
(this is the longest, showing the most of the preparations)

This graph shows his intended and presumed courses
http://images.ig.com.br/publicador/ultimosegundo/358/107/6/666187.mapaa_546_769.jpg

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