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Millionaire Fossett bids for record flight

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 14:32 CST

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Millionaire U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett took off in an experimental plane on Wednesday on an 80-hour flight that he hopes will set a nonstop distance record.

The GlobalFlyer aircraft, which has a wingspan as wide as an 11-story building is tall, lifted off around 7:20 a.m. (1220 GMT) after rolling ponderously down a rented runway used by NASA's space shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Fossett, 61, had initially planned to start the record-breaking attempt on Tuesday but had to delay by a day due to a fuel leak.

Thanks to the ability to fly above weather and a stronger propulsion system, Fossett is out within about three days to break by 700 miles the 26,366-mile (42,431-km) nonstop distance record set by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager on a nine-day flight in 1986.

Fossett also aims to surpass a 1999 ballooning distance record set in 1999 by Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard.

After takeoff, he was to fly over the Atlantic, cross Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Mexico and the United States and then back over the Atlantic before landing at Kent International Airport outside London.

Fossett needs to get GlobalFlyer to an altitude of about 45,000 feet to take advantage of the high-speed jet stream flowing west to east over the Northern Hemisphere.

Without the jet stream's tail winds the plane will not have enough fuel for its record-breaking, nonstop journey, said the aircraft's lead engineer, Jon Karkow.

Conditions in the jet stream did not appear entirely favorable early on Wednesday but a successful flight may still be possible, he said. "It is a big concern. We might not be able to make it to Kent," Karkow said.

GlobalFlyer's mission controllers will attempt to tweak its route to take advantage of tail winds, but because Fossett must fly over specific sites for the record, there is not much latitude for change.

Engineers detected no sign of the fuel leaks that plagued GlobalFlyer last year at the start of Fossett's successful bid to make the first solo, nonstop flight around the world.

Wednesday's takeoff was not without drama. Seabirds flew in front of the plane seconds after it left the runway and two were hit, but Karkow and pilots aboard an observation aircraft found no signs of damage to GlobalFlyer.

Fossett, who had just left NASA's 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway with little room to spare, did not even notice, Karkow said. The plane weighs more than 11 tonnes when fully fueled.

In addition to his record-breaking flight last year, Fossett holds various ballooning and sailing records.

GlobalFlyer is sponsored by Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Source: REUTERS

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