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Round the World Flight Set for Monday
An anonymous reader writes "LiveScience is now reporting that Burt Rutan's GlobalFlyer is set for Monday takeoff. The plane, piloted by Steve Fossett, has been grounded since January by weather. The mission: the first solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe via jet powered craft without refueling." Commentary also available from the BBC.
I hope what goes around comes around. :)
That's awesome. I'm from Salina, KS and nothing ever happens here. It's about time something cool happened.
The first successful nonstop, nonrefueling flight was made by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager in their Scaled Composites Model 76 Voyager back in 1986. That one wasn't solo though.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
a nonstop solo flight around the world twice blindfolded without a parachute with my eyes closed.
why do we need to keep proving that yes, we _can_ fly planes and do amazing feats.
Hopefully he gets some frequent flyer miles for this trip. It would be great if he could go back to the places he flew over and actually visit them.
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
Hal & Viola Leveller fly to Laughlin, Nevada from Southern California every week without refueling. And you don't see them being the subject of an article on Slashdot.
:-M
In this context, the term circumnavigate historically meant by boat or ship, however recently aircraft have been added. Spacecraft aren't included in this illustrious set.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumnavigation
The pilot is secondary. The aircraft, and its technology, is the key thing. However, Fossett has proven, at least to Rutan, that he is a capable pilot, able to navigate all the way around the world (mostly), by himself. The people who have done that comprises a very short list.
Burt was the first with an airplane, but it was powered by props. Steve is trying to be the first with a jet engine. A single jet engine in this case.
Well, If this succeeds I'm going to give a lot more credit to Rutan than I am to the pilot, excepting the endurance that the pilot will need in order to do this at all, though that is a fairly critical thing.
Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites seem to be popular lately, though they've been pushing the envelope now for many, many years. The first time that I heard of Rutan was when he developed his asymetrical "Boomerang" aircraft and it made its debut in 1996, and from then on I've seen him and his company do increasingly cool things. Seeing as how Rutan's SpaceShipOne was the first private craft to go suborbital, he's going to make the news.
Let the rich people play with this stuff, at least it's pushing things into new realms, not like some rich guy who buys an existing small passenger jet just for a toy.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The many NASA Mercury flights, and the first set of Russian flights.
"The around-the-world flight should be completed inside 80 hours" Jules Verne thought 80 days was hard to pull off. Imagine what he would think of this.
John Glenn did it for the Americans soon after.
I think a chap called Yuri Gagarin may qualify, and if he does not another Russian or one of the Mercury pilots definatly will
It may come as a suprise to you, but it is possible to store information in this thing called a brain
flight tracking via gpsd
Much more information suitable to the slashdot crowd is available at:
http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/
We don't like press releases or watered down news articles.
Also, I bet the US government has some recon plane that has/can do something like this. I know it's possible with mid-air refueling but I bet they can do it without. Just my $0.02
- Cary
--Fairfax Underground: Where Fairfax County comes out to play
During launch the plane is so loaded with fuel that it can barely liftoff. Yes, they do need good weather for this. Once airborne they//// he can fly over most weather and (hopefully) avoid the rest.
Yet another "around the world" trip that's not around the equator, and just follows the jet stream.
:)
I can grab the north pole and run "around" the world in 2 seconds, and it would be just as valid as their definition - i.e. lame.
But still, cool toys
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
It is an 80 hour trip - when does the pilot sleep? Does he use an auto pilot?
It seems this lady is going to be upset when she learns that! Of course, she might also get upset when she realizes how hard it is to hold your breath when trying to cross the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans on foot. :P
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
Hel-LO, but isn't that exactly what Batman does? And Batman's cool!
Surely you're aware that Rutan's first design was one that you (YOU!) could literally build in your garage, right?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Chocolate covered coffee beans and a dash mounted espresso machine...
I wonder if his cockpit will look like my car after a long drive - empty cups and wrappers strewn on the floor with a pile of loose CDs on the passenger seat (he'll have to use the floor or the dash)...
-----------
!!Danger!! Dissolves Fish
[All Your Fish Are Belong To Us]
They're taking off from Kansas State University-Salina, which is almost dead center Kansas. It seems that every week they cancel the thing because of bad weather. It's friggin' Kansas in February, of course it's going to be bad weather!! But on the other hand, they cancel it a day or so in advance when they could just wait five minutes for the weather to change.....
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I would love more information on this, please someone, explain the joke/info?
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
Hal and Viola Leveller are characters on the Phil Hendrie radio show. The recurring gag is that they call in to the show during their flight to Laughlin, and get into very animated discussions with Phil when they should be concentrating on flying their plane.
It's not the funniest skit on the show, but it is mildly entertaining. I personally prefer Phil's commentary to his skits.
The FAI's rules state that a record attempt like this must start and finish at the same airfield and cross all meridians of the globe. What's more the course must not be less than the very precise figure of 36,787.559 kilometres (around 23,000 miles) which is equal in length to the Tropic of Cancer. To allow the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer to catch the vital jet stream winds, the FAI rules don't oblige that record attempts follow the imaginary line of the Tropic itself but simply that the distance flown exceeds it.
with FAI being Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) - the world's air sports federation.
Go Rutan, first non-stop around the world (voyager.) First Civilain plane into space (spaceship one,)and now this
This also does not include his incredibly well known kitbuilt aircraft long and veri ez's, the Beech starship, or the numerous military projects he has done.
Rutan will most likly go down as one the most important aircraft designers of all time.
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
...I've heard that Boeing plans to do a very spectacular long-distance flight with the new 777-200 Long Range model.
It sounds like Boeing might try to fly a 777-200LR with a completely stripped-out interior and loading it down with the weight equivalent of the interior parts plus standard cargo load in pre-cooled Jet A fuel. That could make it possible for the 777-200LR to fly as much as 13,000 nautical miles or so.
Is there someway that we can see the planned route ...
Yup, the BBC has a map of the planned route, here.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.