FLIGHT OF HOT AIR BALLOON HALTS AFTER 10-MILE TRIP

Resumption Planned For Today

Two men started a coast-to-coast flight in a hot-air balloon from Coronado yesterday and landed 2 1/2 hours later only 10 miles away near Sweetwater Reservoir.

Pilot Trace Barnes of Chester, S.C., blamed unfavorable winds for the slow progress and said he chose to land because there was not enough fuel or light remaining to cross the rugged Laguna Mountains.

Barnes and his engineer and passenger Terry Wright planned to stay overnight in the meadow they landed in and resume the flight at dawn today.

1,000 VISITORS

About 1,000 persons gave the two a rousing sendoff at 9:05 a.m. on the beach in front of the Hotel del Coronado.

Most of the spectators were on hand when the balloon crew began inflating the silken bag with 90,000 cubic feet of hot air at 8:30 a.m. Barnes continued to heat the air with the propane gas burner on his gondola after the balloon rose into flying position.

When the air temperature inside the bag reached 250 degrees, Barnes declared he was ready.

An unidentified man presented Barnes with a letter addressed to a party on the East Coast. the envelope was marked “Via Hot Air Balloon” and the man said it would be the first such postal service.

A hotel waiter presented Barnes and Wright with a tray loaded with steak breakfasts, complete with silver service.

Barnes’ wife, Brenda, also a balloon pilot, gave him a big kiss. Then a tether rope was cut and the aerostat soared up at a 60 degree angle to the applause and cheers of the throng.

A helicopter carrying magazine photographers buzzed within 50 feet of the aeronauts as they cleared the nearby tall trees and drifted east.

When Barnes and Wright began their descent it caused a massive traffic tie-up in the La Presa area.

Barnes said he had used almost half of his liquid gas supply before landing.

If Barnes is successful, his flight will be the first transcontinental and longest balloon journey on record.