The tragic end of the priest who was flying attached to 1,000 balloons

Adelir Antônio de Carli was a Brazilian priest who was in charge of the parish of São Cristóvão, in Paranaguá, and had created the Pastoral Rodoviária, a project of attention to truckers who traveled through the region.

The priest had a peculiarity: He was flying attached to 1,000 balloons inflated with helium.

He was an experienced skydiver and his flights wanted to attract people’s attention and raise money to finance the works of a hotel for truckers, a resting place for drivers passing through Paranaguá.

The priest about to board his last and tragic flight.

It seems crazy to fly with helium-filled balloons, but he didn’t think so. And their flights came to a good end. He performed some of these feats, including one that ended on Argentine soil: January 13, 2008 traveled in four hours the 110 kilometers between Ampere, in the state of Paraná, Brazil and the Argentine city of San Antonio, in Misiones.

For that flight, Adelir used 600 balloons with helium gas, and flew at a height of 5,300 meters above sea level.

It landed successfully. And everyone thought that their bird dreams would end there, but they were wrong.

Everything was a party. The ending was terrible.

The tragic flight

On April 20, 2018, Adelir De Carli took on a new flight with the help of a thousand colored balloons inflated with helium and sitting on a chair tied the balloons, without any motor.

It left from the city of Paranaguá, in the southern state of Paraná, in Brazil and its destination was Dourados, a city in Mato Grosso do Sul, near Paraguay. A trip that It would take you about 20 hours.

Why 20 hours? The priest wanted to beat the record for this type of flight, which belonged to two Americans who reached the 19-hour mark flying with balloons inflated with helium gas.

The priest getting ready to leave.

It was not a good day for the balloon ride. There was wind and rainbut Father Adelir did not feel afraid. He gave mass for the curious who came to see him off and rose to the heavens. It was 1 p.m.

The father carried parachute, helmet, waterproof clothing, GPS device, cell phone, satellite phone, life jackets, thermal flight suit, food and water.

Twenty minutes after his departure he communicated by cell phone and god a disturbing fact: had reached an altitude of 5.800 metros above sea level, when it was expected to fly at 3,000.

The flight begins. Everything was a party.

“Thank God I am in good health, with a clear conscience, it is very cold up here, but everything is fine,” said the priest during the contact.

A while later he made a new call and asked the emergency services for help and advice to use the GPS geolocation device that he had with him, but that I didn’t know how to use.

At 9 p.m. he was informed with the Military Police when he was about 25 kilometers from the municipality of São Francisco do Sul, in Santa Catarina.

The priest and the 1,000 balloons inflated with helium (O liberal).

After that, nothing more was heard from him.

The dramatic search

His search was organized. For weeks, personnel from the Army, the fire department, the security forces and volunteers, They searched by land and sea to the priest trusting that he would be lost in some isolated place.

On the 4th of July, 75 days later of its flight, on the high seas, near the coast of Maricá, in Rio de Janeiro, 1,000 kilometers northeast of the place of its disappearance, a Petrobras ship found human remains.

​The lower half of a man’s body. His clothes matched those the priest was wearing the day he began his final flight.

The day became cloudy and rainy. Prelude to tragedy.

A DNA test Using genetic material from the remains with material from a brother of the priest, he certified that the remains were Adelir’s.

It was never made clear how his end was. It is believed that the winds raised it to a colossal height and carried it over the sea when in reality it had to fly close to the coast.

At some point the priest must have lost balance or his chair became unhooked and he fell from an impressive height without being able to open his parachute.

Scattered balloons were found in the sea but part of his body was recovered 75 days after beginning his flight.

It was his last flight. The flight of a priest who believed he was a colorful bird…

GML