We've all wanted to try it, but don't do it.

I know this isn't funny. And I promise I'm not laughing.

SÃO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli has been missing since Sunday, when he lifted off from the port city of Paranagua strapped to 1,000 balloons.

Paragliding instructor Marcio Andre Lichtnow, who gave courses to de Carli three years ago, described him as a "headstrong, anxious individual who was always in a rush."

"After two or three months, I asked him to abandon the course because of these personality traits, which are not the ideal profile for a paraglider," Lichtnow said. "So what happened comes as no big surprise."

The 41-year-old priest lifted off wearing a helmet, an aluminum thermal flight suit, waterproof coveralls and a parachute.

But less than an hour in, de Carli told his support crew by satellite phone that he would not be able to complete the planned flight to the city of Dourados, 465 miles away, according to team member Jose Carlos Bom.

Rescuers in boats, planes and helicopters were continuing to search off Brazil's southern coast, near where a cluster of yellow, orange, pink and white balloons was found floating in the Atlantic.

Lichtnow said de Carli phoned him days before liftoff.

"I told him that the winds would carry him all the way to South Africa," Lichtnow said. "He said he had studied everything very carefully and that he would go ahead. I honestly thought he was joking."