We should all learn later on today whether Mr Fossett makes it or not....he is expect to land at approx. 6pm.

Good luck to him and agree with BEagle, nice to see some real aviation going on!

Think they should change the motto on the web site to read......

"One man One plane One World No Fuel"

Good luck to Steve Fossett, if he succeeds this will be one of the great feats of aviation history.

>>We should all learn later on today whether Mr Fossett makes it or not....he is expect to land at approx. 6pm. <<

He's now over Colorado, latest ETA is 1917 UTC. Sir Richard is back in Kansas anticipating the arrival.

1835 UTC: The Scaled Composites Starship N514RS did a rendezvous a little over 200 nm from SLN and now is smoking back to base at 343 knots over the ground. The GlobalFlyer is 100 nm out, descending through FL 229 and doing 129 knots over the ground...

At this point the chase plane (514RS) has pulled ahead and is doing around 200 knots more than VIR101. I'd recon around 70 miles to run right now at around 1840z. VIR101 is in coast at the moment, but looks like he's out of FL220 on the way down...

Dave

Due to arrive in 9 mins

http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/Home/index.jsp

Live streaming now on BBC News Online ... he is on finals ...

Jordan

Clearance from the tower RWY17........

He is down, he has made it, what a fantastic achievement.

:) :) :)

aa

Nice One Steve
 

Well done those guys - oh and all on one engine too....

Brilliant effort Steve and team....


.....by the way MOL would like you to help with a re-write of the JAA FTL

What a fantastic achievement and the pilot is 60 years old!!

Steve and team - I salute you all - no mean feat and they should be able to dine out on this one for a long time!

Just listened to him after landing ..... what a pleasant chap he is ....

Congrats to him and all the team ....... :ok:

Amazing what one pilot and one engine can do!

KSLN-KSLN 67hr 03'

That is one log book entry you won't see everyday!

Well done Steve and the Team. What an achievement, what an effort. Yes, it would be funny to have that on my logbook, KSLN-KSLN - 67hr03. I guess I'll have to try on the sim:cool:

A remarkable achievement by all involved. Congratulations.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

LOL!

Great job! :ok: :ok: :ok:

Brilliant, now all you have to do is work out how this is helpful to the millions of starving people throughout the world where the money would have been better spent...



(Well, somebody had to say it!)

I was miffed that BBC news last night didn't mention it AT ALL, I think ITN mentioned it to about 3 seconds and most of the rest of the news was pretty rubbish anyway. Chanel 5 gave it about a minute (showed the landing) in their 5 news update between the film.

So the 15% was probably just Sky news phishing for ratings once again.
Well done to the Team.
Do we compare this in any way to Ellen McArthur and her 71 day trip?

Ironic that it wouldn't count as a "qualifying cross-country flight"!

Well done, Steve & the team!

16B

Has Steve Fossett done the S/E IFR lobby any good here? After all...............;)

16Blades
"Ironic that it wouldn't count as a "qualifying cross-country flight"!

Correct but it should qualify under "cross-many countries"!

Congratulations to all concerned!

Shame there wasn't more news coverage before the fuel leak story broke.

One evening when I was returning to Yorkshire from Birmingham International on Virgin Trains during the rush hour train which was more like a London Tube Train than an express, I commended to a fellow passenger about how much stuff they have managed to cram into such a small space in their buffet car.

We came to the conclusion that all this Balloon Travel must be getting to Branson's Head.

I think Branson wanted to travel on this flight, but after a string of failed attempts in numerous balloons I bet he thought it was too big a risk!

I recall that on one of his attempts, he was over the North Atlantic when all of a sudden, they heard this really loud noise, simular to the sound of a gun, but more constant.

They looked out the window, and the Ballonist who was flying with Branson said something to the effect of:

BP "We need to get out of here"
RB "Why?"
BP "Well I don't wish to alarm you, but I've just seen a concorde fly past us, and I think we should probably get out of the vacinity before the second one uses us for target practice"