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Global Flyer Part 2

Posted by samzenpus on from the never-coming-down dept.

nsasch writes "The Global Flyer just wasn't enough for Steve Fossett. He's going again, this time to make the world's longest (in length) flight, ever. He is currently over the Atlantic ocean and can be tracked online. He will be flying for 3 days with 18000 pounds of fuel (~8164 kilograms). More information, tracking, Microsoft Flight Simulator models, and background images are available from Virgin Atlantic."

17 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Him again? by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is so fascinating about Fossett? If he designed his own glider, I'd really be impressed. To me, he just seems like a rich guy who is doing what he wants to do in life... which I have no problem with. But, it seems like he has a PR staff who is constantly trumpeting: "Look at this guy! He is sooooo great" To me, that is a turn off.

    If you are breaking records to prove it to yourself... that is one thing. When you are buying media time to brag... then you are a loser in my book. A dam rich loser, but a loser nonetheless.

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    1. Re:Him again? by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To me, that is a turn off.

      Why? Would you date him if he wren't so full of himself? Sheesh... get over it.

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    2. Re:Him again? by aliscool · · Score: 5, Funny

      He's going to be a Billionaire that smears himself cross a half acre of land somewhere if he keeps this stuff up.

    3. Re:Him again? by kozumik · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, what's so amazing about what he's doing and why does our media cover this stuff? The endurance flights of old didn't have GPS, didn't have autopilot, they didn't have sattelite communications. It all individual skill done in isolation. What Fosset does could be accomplished by any decent pilot with a little determination, and a lot of money to blow on the technology, aids, and backups he has. A computer could fly it, with a monkey along for the ride, which is pretty close to how Fosset flies. Your ordinary anonymous test pilot is pushing the envelope way more than Fosset. Guys who fly small planes around the world in small hops have a way more adventures spirit than an endurance flier with GPS and autopilot who basically just stays up in the air and never taking any risks or requiring much skill. Acrobatic pilots are far more technically skilled. Your average bush pilot probably takes more risk and is a better pilot than Fosset. It's a lot of PR fluff.

    4. Re:Him again? by Darth_brooks · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To me, he just seems like a rich guy who is doing what he wants to do in life... which I have no problem with. But, it seems like he has a PR staff who is constantly trumpeting: "Look at this guy! He is sooooo great" To me, that is a turn off.

      If you want to really get down to it, the whole X-prize was nothing more than a giant PR stunt. "Hey! look at us! we can get a bunch of rich guys to spend money! We're boldy going where man has been going for about 40 years now!"

      But before you break out the flamebait mods: It was a PR stunt with a purpose. Without the X-prize, private space flights would've remained a "neat idea." Now, in a few years, maybe (if you're rich enough. Or if you win a contest) you could take a quick flight into space. Ya blatant PR and shameless rich guy whoring!

      Yeah, we've already flown around the world and Fossett isn't exactly treading new ground. But maybe stunts like this spur on new advances in aviation. Maybe a company decides they want to be the next scaled composites and starts kicking money to R & D. Maybe somebody is inspired to look at the way things are being done and decides they can do better. Maybe.

      --
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    5. Re:Him again? by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 3, Funny

      >>Fossett... a turn off.

      Fossett? Yeah, it's a turn off. The guy's a slow leak. Kind of a drip really. All wet. And his sucesses aren't consistant; really he runs hot and cold. Some say he's washed up, but that's sinking really low.

      Oh, Fossett? I thought you said Faucet. Nevermind.

  2. How do they define "longest flight"? by afaik_ianal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The reference on that site to "Virgin Galactic" got me thinking. How do they differentiate between "flight", and "orbit"?

    Do they say that the record is only available to jet-powered flight? Or do you have to be under power the whole time? Why doesn't a space agency hold this record?

    1. Re:How do they define "longest flight"? by jcr · · Score: 4, Informative

      How do they differentiate between "flight", and "orbit"?

      "Flight" is when you travel through the atmosphere, relying on aerodynamic lift or bouyancy to keep you off the ground. "orbit" is when you're on a ballistic trajectory that doesn't intersect the earth.

      HTH,

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    2. Re:How do they define "longest flight"? by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      "orbit" is when you're on a ballistic trajectory that doesn't intersect the earth.

      Or, to rephrase slightly, orbit is when you throw yourself at the ground and miss.

      KFG

  3. At least someone . . by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    . . . is pushing the flight envelope these days.

    It really puts a smile on my face to hear about this sort of thing. The sooner we make ultra distance flights old hat, the sooner our solar system won't seem so big.

    --
    Pretty Pictures!
    1. Re:At least someone . . by mnemonic_ · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yep, just wait, with longer wings we could build an aircraft that can fly to Mars. That's all it takes.

  4. The longest... by syukton · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The longest...in length...

    As opposed to what, exactly? Isn't "longest" usually a relative measure of, uhm, length?

    Do you mean longest in terms of distance or duration? I'm fairly certain you ment distance, but you were totally ambiguous in the posting even though you made an attempt to clarify parenthetically.

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    1. Re:The longest... by Tyler+Eaves · · Score: 2, Informative

      Time record is way longer, over a month. Done by a couple of crazy guys out in the desert in a Cessna. They refuled by passing up cans of gas from a car speeding along the runway.

      --
      TODO: Something witty here...
  5. This is imporant for Aviation by FoxyFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I believe this is important. To learn more about long flights is indeed useful. Also how long you can fly before the fuel weight works against you, how fast you can fly in order to get the longest distance etc. Boeing belives that in the future there will be a better market for direct planes, and less market for big planes between the big metropoles.(Airbus believes that this market is growing, so time will show who is right) Distance, speed and weight are therefore 3 very important variables for aviation, because in the future you can't make money only taking care of the number of passangers you can carry in a big jumbo. You need to fly longer and carry less passanger, that is, if Boeing is right.

  6. Re:What about efficient use of our resources? by NormalVisual · · Score: 2, Funny

    Show me any car, hybrid or otherwise, that gets 12 mpg while maintaining 425 mph. :-)

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  7. Drugged up? by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Three days with no real sleep, only catnaps, then he has to land an airplane.

    Does he get to take amphetamines during this time? Or are US drug laws too strict to allow this (given that he started in Florida.)

    --
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  8. Re:It's the longest (in length) by EvanED · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Longest" can also very easily mean in time. You always hear people talking about how "long" movies are, that someone's been around a company "longer" than another person, etc.

    The disambiguation was completely necessary.