RECORD ATTEMPT PLANE BUILT FOR NONSTOP GLOBAL SOLO.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - Saying they are pursuing the last great aviation record - the first solo, nonstop HP's brand name for its fault-tolerant servers, which range in size from four CPUs to 4,000 CPUs. The NonStop line was created by Tandem Computers, which was acquired by Compaq, which later became part of HP. flight around the world - aircraft 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. and adventurers Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950 in Shamley Green, Surrey, England), is a British entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 and 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 have rolled out an airplane designed for the attempt. Later this year, Fossett expects to make the attempt flying the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (FAA: N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in a time of 67 hours 1 minute from February 28, 2005 until March 3, 2005. airplane, which was displayed Thursday in a ceremony at Rutan's Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled), formerly the Rutan Aircraft Factory, is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States and is headed by aircraft designer Burt Rutan. company at the Mojave Airport. ``It is perhaps the last great aviation record on Earth,'' said Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic airlines and the Virgin record store chain. He is the project's reserve pilot and financial backer, with a $2.5 million investment. Fossett previously was the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world. Branson said he believes the flight is on a par with Charles Lindbergh's solo flight Solo Flight was a flight simulator game for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit microcomputers, released in 1983. It was later released for the IBM PC. The game was created by noted game designer Sid Meier, and published by MicroProse Software, Inc. across the Atlantic in 1927. ``One day it will be compared to Lindbergh,'' Branson said. ``It's the solo record that gets remembered.'' Rutan has made a record-setting globe-circling airplane before. He designed and built Voyager, a plane that his brother, 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 a co-pilot, Geena Yeager, flew around the world nonstop and unrefueled in 1986 in nine days. GlobalFlyer, which Rutan described as ``the most beautiful airplane in the world,'' is expected to make the journey in about 80 hours. The jet-powered GlobalFlyer will also be a much higher-flying aircraft than the propeller-driven Voyager, which flew under 20,500 feet. GlobalFlyer is expected to fly as high as 52,000 feet - higher than jetliners. ``Voyager had to fly low in turbulence and bad weather,'' Rutan said. ``GlobalFlyer will fly above the weather.'' GlobalFlyer looks somewhat like Voyager: a cockpit mounted on the wing between twin booms. Voyager had two engines; GlobalFlyer, one. Fossett said he immediately became interested in the idea of flying a plane solo around the world five years ago when, during a dinner, Dick Rutan told him that his brother hoped to design an aircraft for such a journey. Fossett said he met with Burt Rutan a couple of months later. ``It's very exciting - from a pilot-achievement standpoint and also from an aircraft-technology standpoint,'' Fossett said. Branson will fly a support aircraft accompanying GlobalFlyer. Branson has his own credentials as an adventurer. His boat Virgin Atlantic Challenger II set a speed record in 1986 crossing the Atlantic. He made the first hot-air balloon flight across the Atlantic in 1987, flew a different balloon across the Pacific in 1991 and joined with Fossett in the 1990s in an unsuccessful attempt to become the first to circumnavigate cir·cum·nav·i·gate tr.v. cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ed, cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ing, cir·cum·nav·i·gates 1. To proceed completely around: circumnavigating the earth. 2. the globe in a balloon. Fossett succeeded in a solo attempt in 2002. When the around-the-world aircraft flight will be made is not known at this time. The absolute earliest it could come is April. Fossett said sometime after October was more likely. ``The first flight test is in a month,'' Fossett said. ``This will tell us how much work we need to do with the airplane.'' Unlike Voyager, which took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. , GlobalFlyer's flight will begin and end at an airfield somewhere in the Midwest. The plane will follow jet-stream winds across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom, then head southeast across the Mediterranean and then east toward Pakistan, India, China and Japan. The final leg of the journey will take the plane out over the Pacific toward Hawaii before it crosses the West Coast of the United States The "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Seaboard" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the Western United States, comprising most often California, Oregon and Washington. . 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. The flight will follow rules laid out by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which governs aviation records. The FAI's rules state that a record attempt like this must start and finish at the same airfield and cross all meridians Meridians Channels or conduits through which Qi travels in the body. Mentioned in: Qigong meridians, n.pl See channels. of the globe, the project team said. What's more, the course must not be less than the very precise figure of 36,787.559 kilometers, approximately 23,000 miles, which is equal in length to the Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Cancer, parallel of latitude at 23°30' north of the equator; it is the northern boundary of the tropics. This parallel marks the farthest point north at which the sun can be seen directly overhead at noon; north of the parallel the sun appears less than , the project team said. The project is attracting worldwide interest. Two busloads of European media attended Thursday's rollout. For the event, a two-tier stand was erected in one of Scaled Composites' hangars to accommodate the media. The project has its own Web site, at www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, intended for the first solo, nonstop plane flight around the world, is rolled out Thursday. (2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Burt Rutan, left, shows Dr. Sam Williams Sam Williams is the name of:
(3 -- 4; 4 ran in AV edition only) At Mojave, aircraft designer Burt Rutan and adventurers Richard Branson and Steve Fossett stand by the craft in which Fossett plans to fly nonstop around the world. Below, Rutan points out features as Fossett, left, and Branson listen. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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