Fossett Faces Fuel Crisis in Global Flight Bid
Posted on: Wednesday, 2 March 2005, 12:00 CST
SALINA, Kan. -- Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett discovered a serious problem with the fuel system of his custom-built plane Wednesday, forcing him to consider abandoning his quest to become the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world without refueling.
"There's a big go, no-go decision that the team has to make," said project manager Paul Moore as Fossett's mission control team was reviewing data.
Fossett and his GlobalFlyer were still over Japan shortly after 11 a.m. EST, and he had decided to fly on toward Hawaii. He'll decide there whether to continue heading east for the U.S. mainland. A decision wasn't expected to be announced until 2 p.m. EST.
"This is a huge setback," Fossett said from the plane, according to a statement issued by his mission control staff. "I have not that high a level of confidence at this point."
Moore said fuel sensors in the 13 tanks differ from readings of how quickly the plane's single jet engine was burning fuel. Moore said the crew had been forced to assume that 2,600 pounds of the original 18,100 pounds of fuel "disappeared" early in the flight.
It wasn't clear whether the problem was with the instruments that track how much fuel remains or if some fuel had been lost because of a leak, Fossett's team said.
The GlobalFlyer was estimated to have about 5,500 pounds of fuel left as Fossett approached Japan. Moore said that was about 15 percent less than the team estimated he needed to finish his flight.
"Understandably, Steve's way down," Moore said.
Fossett, 60, still might be able to finish the flight on his original path, if a tail wind in the jet stream remains strong enough to push him across the Pacific.
"There are still significant hurdles to overcome - not least being the fact that the success of this flight is now down to the calculation of the winds," Fossett said.
Before the fuel problem was discovered, Fossett had estimated he would complete the 23,000-mile journey at midday Thursday. He already holds the record for flying solo around the globe in a balloon, as well as dozens of other aviation and sailing records.
The project is being financed by Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson, a longtime friend and fellow adventurer.
Fossett is trying to break several aviation records, including the longest nonstop flight by a jet. That record is more than 12,000 miles, set by a B-52 bomber in 1962.
Aviation pioneer Wiley Post made the first solo around-the-world trip in 1933, but he took more than seven days and stopped numerous times. The first nonstop global flight without refueling was made in 1986 by Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, brother of GlobalFlyer designer Burt Rutan.
In 2002, Fossett became the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world.
---
On the Net:
GlobalFlyer: http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
Related Articles
- TAN Eco Team Collects 150 Pounds of Coins
- Louisville team plane in emergency landing
- Delta Launches First Trans-Atlantic Flight From Salt Lake City With Nonstop Service to Paris
- New Spirit Magazine Will Board Southwest Airlines Flights in January; Airline Teams With Pace Communications As Publisher
- Frontier Selects Greenplum's Bizgres MPP to Fuel Flight Analysis Engine
- Florida Flight Dilemma: Airlines Can Fill Planes With Cheap Fares, but Struggle to Make a Profit.
- Fossett sets flight distance record
- Fossett Breaks Flight Distance Record
- S.J. Sharks Skate Past Curfew: TEAM PLANE IS WORST VIOLATOR OF AIRPORT NOISE RULE
- FUEL's GOLD ; Hurricane Backlash Sees Petrol Rise to Pounds 1 A LITRE
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds