Does anyone know how this differs from the Dick Rutan non stop around the world trip?
As Grainger pointed out this flight is solo, and its a jet-engined aircraft. A few other differences:
- Voyager flew at 11.000ft, having to circumnavigate all the weatherfronts, Globalflyer flies four times as high, putting him above the weather systems
- The most sophisticated piece of navigation equipment on Voyager was an Omega system. Globalflyer relies on a GPS system, coupled to an autopilot.
- The Voyager flight lasted for over nine days. Globalflyer's flight will be less than three days.
Not wanting to belittle Steve Fosset's achievements, I still think that Voyager was a more challenging project, both from the crew's view as from the organisation standpoint. But that's just my view.
Btw, can someone explain why Globalflyer's website is saying that they beat the 1962 B-52 record while Voyager already beat this record in 1986? Are they conveniently leaving out this fact because they are talking about Jet-engined class records only??
Edit: Looks like I found the answer to my question already:
Jet-engine class distance records
Piston engined class records