Around the world in 80hrs
Record Bid
VIRGIN boss Sir Richard Branson is unveiling the aircraft which will be used in a record-breaking attempt to fly solo non-stop around the world. GlobalFlyer will travel 23,000 miles at about 50,000ft and hopes to complete the challenge in less than 80 hours. Adventurer Steve Fossett will pilot the plane, with Sir Richard as reserve pilot in case anything goes wrong. The lightweight aircraft will carry more than four times its weight in fuel and needs a 12,000ft runway to take off. Engineers have been working on the plane in the Mojave Desert, California, for the past seven months. The challenge - which is due to take pace in April - is the first time a pilot has tried to fly alone and non-stop around the globe. |
If Mr Fossett goes down with the flu me thinks the grinning pullover might have bitten off more than he can chew!
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So how is it legal or sensible to have 1 person doing 80 hours non stop. Indeed as is being shown on Uk TV at the moment it is very hard to remain awake and alert for even close to that long.
What does this say about Virgin Atlantic. "Dont worry passengers today we will be sharing the sky with one of our aeroplanes where the pilot has not been to sleep for 3 days." IMHO this must be treated as a UAV rather than an experimental aircraft and denied access to controlled airspace. Particularly as their route is taking them straight through some of the busiest airspace in the world. I would not want it just 3000 feet over my head when Steve F drifts off to sleep and the autopilot drops out. |
brakedwell and daysleeper. Let's all join the Branson bashers eh?
Where's your spirit of adventure? I say good luck to the team and I hope the flight succeeds. |
To what extent is RB qualified? - the website is strangely silent on this point.
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Im not bashing Branson at all. However if Im going to be sharing the same sky as the guy I want to know that he is awake. Or if not that the aircraft is quite capable of operating by itself. Which has yet to be proved with UAV's Where the acident rate is thousands of times greater than in commercial aircraft.
It would be rather ironic if he dozed off mid atlantic and wiped out one of his own jumbos going the other way. |
Take off currently scheduled for 23:30 GMT.
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Daysleeper, I bet you do a risk assessment before you get out of bed?
Where is your spirit of adventure? My advice is if you are that worried stay in bed for the next 80 hrs!!! I personally wish them all the best. |
Surprised this thread isn't being updated more regularly - as of 0914 UTC, Global Flyer has coasted out from Nova Scotia and is over the Atlantic.
Mission Control Status is here. |
When overhead UK?
Anyone have an estimate for when the Global Flyer might be overhead the UK? Would be nice to see the contrail at least - not sure how visible he'll be at 40,000 ft, even on a clear day!
Some time tommorrow I guess??!?:confused: God Speed Global Flyer |
He's currently around 12 hrs into the flight and is South of the Azores at around 345 kts, something like 700 miles from the West coast of Africa. He's currently on a heading of 135 deg, which seems to indicate that he'll route over Morocco / Algeria / Tunisia, missing most of Europe. These Americans will do anything to avoid coming to UK! :D
Estimated time of flight is 80 hrs, which I reckon would be a pretty remarkable thing to have in your logbook. Just realised that under FAA and CAA rules, this wouldn't count as a cross-country as he plans to land at the same airfield as his departure!! :) |
Does anyone know how this differs from the Dick Rutan non stop around the world trip?
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I believe the fact that it's a solo non-stop, non-refuelled circumnavigation. For interest, the summary of the 1986 Voyager flight is as follows, taken from the Dick Rutan Web Site:
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18g:
Does anyone know how this differs from the Dick Rutan non stop around the world trip? Latest from the Global Flyer site: Mission Status: 19:52UTC at Mission Control. Elapsed Journey time: 19 hours 06 minutes. Distance covered approximately 6,050 nautical miles. Steve is now flying at 47,000ft which means he will burn less fuel. He expects to fly at this level for the rest of the night. He is now flying over Libyan airspace and has picked up a 100 mph jetstream. Steve is currently traveling at 340 knots/ 390 mph (ground speed). Good luck Steve ! |
Project Manager has just stated (Sky News) that Global Flyer is over half way but in trouble. Seems there has been a problem of venting.
There is insufficient fuel without the addition of tailwinds to complete the flight. They are currently assessing the future and the possibility of terminating the flight over Japan. Safety first will prevail and so continuance over the Pacific is very doubtful they say. |
Global Flyer equipment?
Does anyone know what his nav equipment is like?
Does he have an ADF? ;-) His reg is N277SF, single engine composite aircraft.... |
Looks like he's doing okay. Latest map shows him passing to the south of Japan, 338Kts groundspeed, heading 89.1 degrees.
I wish him all the best. :) http://virginatlanticglobalflyer.com...trol/Tracking/ BM |
Speed Altitude
332 Kts 45,882ft Looking a bit touchy, speed's coming down. Northwest of Honolulu now. May the gods of aviation smile upon you. Come on Steve! |
Does anyone know how this differs from the Dick Rutan non stop around the world trip? - 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 |
Did he make it?
He was scheduled to touch down 15mins ago but the website is down. |
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