airways, far south of Gatch's plotted course. No further radio transmissions were received from Light Heart. The Liberian freighter Ore Meridian reported sighting the balloon just after dawn on 21 February. At that point, the balloon was at an altitude of about 305 m (1000 ft), approximately 1,610 km (1,000 miles) west of the Canary Islands and drifting towards Africa. According to this report, eight of the ten balloons remained inflated. The gondola was designed to float in the event of a water landing and to be radar reflective. Notwithstanding this (or conjectures that the balloon might have landed in the Spanish Sahara) no confirmed trace of Light Heart or Gatch was ever found, after the Ore Meridian's reported sighting on 21 February. The US Department of Defense and the Spanish Army conducted extensive search operations both at sea off West Africa and in the Spanish Sahara. Search operations were called off in mid-March 1974. See also List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea Thomas Leigh Gatch References 1970s missing person cases Aviation accidents and incidents in 1974 Aviation accidents and incidents in the Atlantic Ocean Individual balloons (aircraft) Missing aircraft People lost at sea Transatlantic flight