Adventurer Fossett's latest record attempt set for takeoff today
07.02.06
With cool temperatures and mild winds forecast for early today, adventurer pilot Steve Fossett plans to strap himself inside the tiny cockpit of an experimental aircraft and take off for what he hopes will be an 80-hour, nonstop flight that will take him around the world, and then some.
Fossett took the plane, Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, around the world last year, setting a new record for the longest solo, nonstop flight. But a problem with the plane's venting system cost Fossett more than 3,000 pounds of fuel. The experience left him with the unsettling notion that the plane had not performed to its peak capability.
So Fossett plans to guide GlobalFlyer from Florida, over the Atlantic Ocean, across the Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Japan, Mexico, the United States, back over the Atlantic and Ireland before settling down, hopefully on Friday, at Kent International Airport (Manston).
Liftoff was scheduled for just after sunrise on Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing strip, one of the few runways long enough to support GlobalFlyer's takeoff. The fully fueled plane weighs more than 11 tons and Fossett will need the strip's full 15,000 feet to build up enough speed for takeoff.
The next few hours will be critical as well. Fossett must climb to 45,000 feet to reach the jet stream, a naturally occurring high-altitude wind that blows west to east across the Northern Hemisphere. Without riding the jet stream, GlobalFlyer will not be able to break the distance record.
If successful, Fossett will surpass by 700 miles the previous record for an airplane ride and by 600 miles the previous record for a balloon flight.
Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, which owns GlobalFlyer and financed Fossett's venture, said: 'Records are made to be broken. It is in man's nature to continue to strive to do just that.'
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