Fossett world record quest approaches decision time
11.02.06
Adventurer Steve Fossett has reached the US as he pushes on with his bid to make the longest, non-stop flight in aviation history. After arriving just after 19:00 GMT, he is now heading for Florida, where he must decide if his Virgin GlobalFlyer has enough fuel to cross the Atlantic.
Mission engineers' calculations suggest it could be 'touch and go' and there was a 50% chance he might have to abandon the record attempt, Fossett told the BBC from his cockpit. He said: 'We calculate that I just barely have enough fuel to make the coast of England. In fact, if we've miscalculated at all, I would end up in the water; so I'm going to take a very difficult decision when I reach Florida before I head out over the Atlantic.'
The 61-year-old American is trying to crack the record set in 1986 by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. They clocked 40,212km (24,987 miles) during a non-stop, non-refuelled flight in their Voyager aircraft.
In his bid to eclipse that mark, Mr Fossett set out from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday for Kent Airport in the UK - a journey that would take him around the world once and across the Atlantic twice. But a leak from the fuel tanks during the ascent to cruising altitude means the aviator may now have to land early.
'If I am truly short of fuel, Ireland is closer than England; and I will still have the longest distance flight, whether I land in Ireland or England,'Fossett explained.
Assuming he does have sufficient reserves to complete the epic journey, landfall over Ireland would occur at about 17:30 GMT on Saturday. A landing at Manston in Kent would follow around 18:30 GMT.
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