FOSSETT AND GLOBALFLYER TO SOAR ONCE AGAIN ADVENTURER SETS SIGHTS ON BREAKING CLOSED-CIRCUIT RECORD.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - Adventurer Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (born April 22, 1944 - missing September 3, 2007) is an American aviator, sailor and adventurer. Fossett made his fortune in the financial services industry and is best known for many world records including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a is planning one more record-setting flight in the Mojave-built GlobalFlyer, this time to wrestle away from the Mojave-built Voyager the record for the longest flight over a closed circuit without landing. Just a few weeks after setting a record for the longest flight, a 26,389.3-mile journey in February, Fossett is setting his sights on the 24,986.7-mile record set in 1986 by Dick Rutan Richard Glenn “Dick” Rutan (born July 1, 1938) is an aviator who piloted the Voyager aircraft around the world non-stop with the assistance of Jeana Yeager. He was born in Loma Linda, California, where he gained an interest in flight at a young age. and Jeana Yeager in Voyager, built like GlobalFlyer by famed designer Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. , Dick's brother. A closed-circuit course means the aircraft will take off and land in the same location, in this case Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States.GR6 First settled by Preston B. Plum in 1856 along the Saline and Smoky Hill Rivers, and founded by William A. . The flight could occur as early as next week. The flight was announced by Kansas State University Kansas State University, main campus at Manhattan; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered and opened 1863. There is an additional campus at Salina. Among the university's research facilities are the J. R. , whose students will serve as Fossett's crew for the record attempt. Kansas State University students also worked on Fossett's around-the-world flight last year. In his recently completed longest non-stop flight, Fossett flew GlobalFlyer from Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) U.S. launch site for manned space missions. [U.S. Hist.: WB, So:562] See : Astronautics in Florida completely around the world and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean for a second time, landing in Bournemouth in the United Kingdom. Last February, Fossett flew the GlobalFlyer around the world to claim the first solo non-stop flight around the world. That flight also originated and ended in Salina Salina (səlī`nə), city (1990 pop. 42,303), seat of Saline co., central Kans., on the Smoky Hill River; founded 1858 by settlers opposed to slavery, inc. 1870. ; however, at approximately 22,876 miles, it did not surpass the distance of the 24,986.7-mile Voyager around-the-world flight. For this flight, Fossett will fly a course that is projected to be 25,181 miles. GlobalFlyer looks somewhat like Voyager: a cockpit mounted on the wing between twin booms. But the jet-powered GlobalFlyer is a much higher-flying aircraft than the propeller-driven Voyager, which flew under 20,500 feet. GlobalFlyer can fly as high as 52,000 feet - higher than jetliners. Voyager had two engines; GlobalFlyer, one. GlobalFlyer was commissioned by Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin companies, including Virgin Atlantic airlines. At the start of the flight, the plane will weigh 22,006 pounds, with the fuel weight causing the airplane's wings to sag. At the end of the flight, the airplane will weigh less than 4,000 pounds. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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