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GlobalFlyer Completes Record-Breaking Flight
ikewillis writes "Steve Fossett has successfully landed the GlobalFlyer in Kansas, completing the record-breaking flight and becoming the first person to successfully circle the earth in a nonstop solo flight. The journey of 37,000 kilometres has taken 67 hours, many of them fraught with anxiety over whether the custom-made GlobalFlyer aircraft had enough fuel for the trip. Fossett managed to touch down at 2:48 p.m. EST, to the delight of mission control staff, a small crowd and a marching band that had gathered at the airstrip to welcome him."
Also FYI (37,000 km) / (67 hours) = 343.145285 mph ... pretty darn fast considering they were expecting an average of 285mph.
VERY long runway.
And that's where he started (because of the very long runway that was needed for takeoff).
And by the record rules, you have to start and land from the same airfield.
They choose Salina becuase they needed a very long runway for takeoff; it's a 12,000 foot runway that they used to train B52 bomber's during WW2.
Gear6 - the Automotive Weblog
Jon Karkow, my neighbor and project manager/designer and chief test pilot of this little airplane. It was his baby from start to finish. (in addition to all the other congratulations all around!)
--M
Publicity for the same rich guy, in fact. Branson put up all the cash for this little excursion.
Remember that at the last minute, they changed the flightplan to take a MASSIVE shortcut by cutting out the northern atlantic route and instead flying directly to Africa and across that way (due to preferential winds apparently) That would have saved a lot of fuel, which probably helped a lot.
From the official website for the project:
For the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer and its pilot Steve Fossett to set a world record for the first solo, non-stop, non-refuelled circumnavigation of the world they will have to follow a strict set of rules laid down by the governing body of aviation record attempts, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
The Smithsonian already has Voyager, if they end up with SS1 and GlobalFlyer then Burt Rutan is on his way to his own room at the place.
His cruise altitude was 45,000 feet. Roughly 8 miles. With an efficient aircraft (which this is) you should have a glide ratio better than 30. So he should be able to glide 30 * 8 or 240 miles. The 200 miles figure seems much more likely than the 50 miles.
The chute _was_ necessary to land properly, the info on the Scaled Composites site specifically mentions that. The plane had such a good glide-to-drop-ratio (I forget the actual term for that) that it made it extremely difficult to land. You couldn't get the plane to drop fast enough to land in any sort of reasonable runway, it would just skim over the ground.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
But the previous record being in 1962 suprises me as well. But I'm not sure if it's a matter of it being so long ago or the fact that a B-52 can travel so far.
Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
the full load of fuel probably weighed considerably more than the empty aircraft
The fully-loaded fuel tank was around 85% the plane's weight, IIRC, so you are correct.
-mkb
The actual requirements are '36,787.559-kilometer minimum distance required for the arbiter of world aviation records, the Paris-based Federation Aeronautique Internationale, to recognize the feat.' There you go.
Since he did not break any record.
You don't seem to know what you are talking about. There are two men: Branson and Fosset.
AFAICT, all Branson did is write a check and provide moral support.
The pilot was Fosset. Apparently they are friends. Fosset is not that rich. The article refers to him as a millionaire. Branson, on the other hand, is referred to as a billionaire. So I think it is incorrect to say that Fosset can do whatever he chooses. It might be more accurate to say that he has enough determination to accomplish his objectives.
Other than that, I guess I agree with you. I like reading about Branson and Fosset and their ilk. I don't see why they shouldn't keep doing the stuff they do. Rutan wouldn't have nearly as much fun without guys like Branson and Fosset and Paul Allen to help pay for everything. And I like reading about Rutan's accomplishments, too.
MM
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It would be near impossible to do this in a sailplane, mostly because you can only fly sailplanes during the day. At night there are no thermals to keep you afloat. that's why you need some sort of self-contained power source (batteries, or fuel). And to the gentleman from a prior post that does not seem to be impressed by this _amazing_ feat, I pity you.
The best glider in the world? No. A darn good one? Oh, yeah.