He's Off! Fossett Begins Quest For Closed-Circuit Record

[Paul]

Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett took off from Salina Municipal Airport Tuesday morning on his latest quest to put his name in the record books -- this time around, for the longest closed-circuit distance flight.

Fossett's Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer lifted off at 6:40 am in excellent weather, on a flight that Fossett expects will return him to Salina in about 78 hours -- thus giving him the closed-circuit record that eluded him on his original solo round-the-world flight just over one year ago.

Perhaps most importantly, problems that had plagued the early stages of Fossett's two previous record-breaking flights in the GlobalFlyer -- fuel loss on takeoff, and excessive cabin temperatures -- didn't crop up this time around, according to mission control at Kansas State University - Salina.

Aero-News Network

 

[Paul]

After Almost 75 Hours In The Air, Fossett Lands In Salina

Adventurer Steve Fossett (right) landed in Salina, KS Friday morning at 9:06 am Central Standard Time, after a remarkably by-the-book attempt to establish a new record for distance travelled nonstop in a closed course. Stronger-than-expected tailwinds moved up the anticipated landing time from its original target of Friday afternoon.

Officials are now checking instruments to see if Fossett successfully broke the 24,931-mile record, established in 1986 by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager in Voyager. A post on the Kansas State University-Salina GlobalFlyer blogsite quotes the official distance travelled as 21,979.8 nautical miles -- or 25,293.9 standard miles, which would be enough for the record.

As Aero-News reported throughout Fossett's latest record attempt, this flight will likely go down as the smoothest of Fossett's three record-attempt flights in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. Fuel woes and technical issues that caused tense moments during Fossett's solo around-the-world flight last year, as well as the Ultimate Flight long-distance record flight in February, were nonissues this time around.

Aero-News Network