GlobalFlyer 'Round The World Solo Flight Takes Off

bryanthompson writes "The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer took off from the Salina Municipal Airport this evening at about 6:47 CST. The Salina Airport was chosen for its central location, and the fact that it is one of the few air strips long enough for the flyer to take off successfully. The trip around the world is expected to take about 80 hours, with speeds averaging 285 mph. The craft was designed for Sir Richard Branson by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, who also designed SpaceShipOne." Steve Fossett is piloting the craft, intended (as reader aallan puts it), "to be the first solo non-stop flight around the world without refuelling."

Comments

80 hours??, this /. editors ...

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

That should read 80 days, Passepartout!!

sleepy?

[tiredwired]

Anyone know how you can stay up for 80hours straight and still land a plane? I'm not talking about Viagra.

Re:sleepy?

[mickyflynn]

yeah, but that's with a crew of 5 in a B-52 (with at least 2 flight-qualified individuals), or 2 in a B2 stealth bomber, both pilots. The military never would have built a one-man plane to fly 23-hour missions around the world and back.

But this probably involves jolt cola or something.

Re:sleepy?

[VAXcat]

That's the way it's headed. It's like that old joke about the cockpit complement on future airliners - instead of a pilot and a copilot, it will just be a pilot and a dog. The dog's job is to bite the pilot if he starts trying to mess with the controls.

I can almost see

[EdwinBoyd]

A frazzled billionare being extracted from the remnants of his mangled craft, breathlessly explaining to a throng of reporters. "It was going quite well, but the wind just picked up so suddenly we didn't have a chance. Damnable shame, ah well on to my next silly adventure/reality show"

Re:Article Summary is Wrong

[swimin]

Or maybe I should have read the article summary a little more carefully.

Re:Bathroom?

[edubarr]

Hope he doesn't get diarehha...haha (sp?)

Don't worry... you misspelled it right

Next... first while wearing tutu

[simetra]

First solo flight around the world wearing a tutu.
Next will be first solo flight around the world wearing a tutu while humming "Windy"... Who's walking down the streets of the city, smiling at every body she sees... yadda yadda

Then, first solo flight around the world while building a little ship inside a bottle......

Ok let me get this straight

[Anonymous Coward]

They spent all kinds of money to design and build a machine that would consume fuel for 80 hours and then be where it started from.

I propose that a more cost effective device. It would be made of baked clay. This rectangular object could be placed at any location. Not just on a runway. 80 hours later we could verify that it was it was still there.

Re:Sleep on 80 hr flight?

[Tobril]

I don't know how that guy is going to stay awake, but there is a student pilot here on campus that is making the same trip in a mod for Microsoft flight sim 2004. He has a plasma screen, cool joystick, a chair, and has to stay there and simulate the entire 80 hour trip. We are going to bug the hell out of this guy to keep him awake, too bad the real global flier pilot doesn't have an entire campus to inflict jackassery upon him.

Re:Bathroom?

[Chris Daniel]

Hows he use the bathroom? Hope he doesn't get diarehha...

You mean you hope he doesn't fly over your house ;-)

Re:Live Tracking

[MightyMartian]

This is all getting pretty dull and repetitive. I mean, what's next, around the world without taking a leak?

Re:Global Pee on Poor People Founder

[SnowZero]

Err... Main language turn on?

The Salina Municipal Airport link was meaningful..

[Anonymous Coward]

..not

Slashdotting with style - JSP errors

[subStance]

This has to be the most stylish way to get slashdotted I've ever seen. Actually making it fake like you wrote a page that ddin't work in the first place when under load .... cool !! (ducks)

org.apache.jasper.JasperException: Unable to compile class for JSP
An error occurred at line: 531 in the jsp file: /MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
Generated servlet error: [javac] Compiling 1 source file /usr/local/jakarta-tomcat-5.0.19/work/Catalina/loc alhost/_/org/apache/jsp/MissionControl/Tracking/in dex_jsp.java:607: ')' expected
An error occurred at line: 531 in the jsp file: /MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
Generated servlet error: out.println( com.conchango.vagf.util.TridionHelper.getComponent Link(application, "tcm:0-206-1").getLinkAsString("tcm:206-4611-64", "tcm:206-4720","tcm:206-3559-32", "", ""Friendship" flies the Atlantic", true) );
...

org.apache.jasper.compiler.DefaultErrorHand ler.javacError(DefaultErrorHandler.java:127)
org. apache.jasper.compiler.ErrorDispatcher.javacError( ErrorDispatcher.java:351)
org.apache.jasper.compi ler.Compiler.generateClass(Compiler.java:415)
org .apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler. java:458)
org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.com pile(Compiler.java:439)
org.apache.jasper.JspComp ilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java: 553)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper. service(JspServletWrapper.java:291)
org.apache.ja sper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet. java:301)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.se rvice(JspServlet.java:248)
javax.servlet.http.Htt pServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
com.concha ngo.vagf.util.DarksiteFilter.doFilter(DarksiteFilt er.java:71)