TEAR IN GAS BAG PUNCTURES BALLOONISTS' GLOBAL QUEST.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

Aviation record setter Dick Rutan's bid to be the first to fly a balloon around the world ended Friday morning atop a cactus in a New Mexico cow pasture after he had traveled just 100 miles.

Spotting a tear in the gas bag of their 170-foot-tall balloon barely an hour after takeoff, Rutan and his partner, veteran New Mexico balloonist Dave Melton, parachuted to the ground after opening a release valve.

Both were injured - Rutan by cactus spines in his face, Melton more seriously with a dislocated hip and broken ankle.

The balloon, laden with explosive fuel, fluttered down and then took off again, flying eastward without them for eight hours before landing atop trees near Gainesville, Texas, about 75 miles north of Dallas near the Texas-Oklahoma state line.

``David said they heard a boom, and when that happened they noticed the bottom . . . was gone and they knew they had to jump,'' said emergency medical technician Tina Griego, who aided the two men when they landed in a pasture outside Vaughn, N.M., 100 miles east of the takeoff site.

A former Air Force test pilot who in 1986 made aviation history when he and co-pilot Jeana Yeager became the first to complete a nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world, Rutan was poked in the face by cactus spines as his parachute was dragged along by the wind.

He was released from Santa Rosa Hospital in time to take part in a news conference back in Albuquerque.

``We were airborne in something that was highly suspect, heavily laden with fuel, and Dave and I came to the realization, `We have to abandon this thing,' '' he told reporters, according to The Associated Press.

Melton, who was part of unsuccessful global balloon attempts in 1993 and 1994, landed on a fence, dislocating his right hip and breaking his ankle. He was flown by helicopter to the University of New Mexico hospital.

After parachuting from their damaged balloon, the men were blown about on the ground by stiff winds, Griego said.

Ground crew members said the Global Hilton - as tall as a 17-story building - touched down momentarily farther east, but it soared again to 30,000 feet when propane canisters tore loose.

After losing altitude through west Texas, the balloon ended its journey stuck in trees near Gainesville, about 600 miles from where it started and 500 miles from where Melton and Rutan bailed out, officials said.

The extent of damage to the balloon was not immediately known. The crew also couldn't say whether the $1 million effort will be scrubbed for this year.

``We'll reassess the future when we get both pilots in Albuquerque and once we secure the aircraft,'' said Tom Garrity, a spokesman for the flight. ``Those are our top priorities. Until that happens, we won't even be able to approach anything else.''

Rutan and Melton's travails illustrate why flying a balloon around the world nonstop has remained what the National Geographic Society calls ``the last great aeronautical prize of the century.''

Theirs was the fourth such effort since December to end prematurely. British millionaire Richard Branson's balloon took off without him in early December in Morocco, wrecking itself in the North African desert.

Balloonist Kevin Uliassi took off from Illinois three weeks later, but came down after less than a day when a helium container burst.

Distance record holder Steve Fossett took off the same day as Uliassi. He traveled 7,300 miles from St. Louis to the Black Sea in Russia before he gave up, victimized by bad weather and a faulty heater. It was Fossett's fourth attempt. A year ago, he made it to India.

After a three-day delay because of uncooperative weather, Rutan and Melton lifted off at 6:17 a.m. Friday from Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park, overlooking the Rio Grande.

But at 7:28, about 40 miles from their takeoff, the balloonists reported a tear in the cell containing the balloon's helium gas. They said they were opening a valve and parachuted to the ground.

Melton and Rutan intended to spend nine to 15 days inside a pressurized, 8-foot-diameter capsule, floating along at 30,000 to 35,000 feet - as high as airliners fly - hitching along on the jet stream at 200 mph.

Built by Rutan's brother, Burt, at his Scaled Composites aircraft plant in Mojave, the carbon-fiber capsule is fitted with a pilot station and private sleeping quarters, satellite communication and navigation systems, a radar altimeter and satellite locater beacon.

The Mylar balloon envelope was fabricated in England, and attached to the capsule in Albuquerque.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Map

PHOTO (1--Ran in Valley Edition only) Pilot Dick Rutan, left, is escorted to an ambulance after parachuting from his stricken balloon Friday.

(2--Ran in Valley Edition only) Balloonist Dave Melton is put in a helicopter to be taken to a hospital for treatment of a broken ankle and dislocated hip suffered when he landed on a fence after abandoning the Global Hilton flight near Vaughn, N.M.

(3--Ran in Valley Edition only) Rutan and Melton lift off aboard the Global Hilton in Albuquerque as they try to become the first to fly around the world nonstop.

Associated Press

MAP: (Ran in Valley Edition only) Crew parachuted 13 miles southeast of Vaughn.