Round the world record for Fossett

But this time solo, non-stop in a unique single engine jet plane

As his non-stop round the world record on the ocean wave looks set to be demolished by Bruno Peyron and the team on Orange II, so American adventurer and record breaker Steve Fossett entered the history books again last night when he became the first person to achieve a solo, non-stop round the world airplane flight.

At 1937GMT yesterday (13:37 local time) Fossett touched his unique single jet-engine powered Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer down at Kansas' Salina Municipal Airport having taken 66 hours 50 minutes to complete the 20,000 mile journey around the planet at an average speed of nearly 300mph.

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is a pioneering aircraft - the world's most efficient jet plane - and was designed and built by aviation legend Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites. With a 114ft wingspan, 9 tonnes of her all-up weight of just 11 tonnes gives her a record 85% fuel load:displacement ratio or a payload of fuel four times the weight of the aircraft, necessary to drive her custom built Williams FJ44-3 jet engine for the duration of the flight.

With Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer already positioned at the end of Runway 35, on 28 February Fossett's announced that the attempt was elevating to 'Code Green'.
All afternoon he and his team carefully monitored conditions, waiting for potentially dangerous crosswinds to dissipate. Finally, just before dusk settled in Kansas Fossett took the controls of his aircraft heading northeast into the dramatic winter twilite. The attempt officially started at 00:45GMT on 1 March.

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer flies at altitudes of up to 52,000ft (commercial long haul aircraft normally fly at around 45,000ft whereas Concorde in supersonic mode goes as high at 55,600ft) and at speeds of around 250 knots.

On his climb out of Salinas Fossett reported a partial loss of his GPS causing urgent discussion in his team at his Mission Control about what the options were if his GPS fully failed. "There are actually a number of GPS units on the GlobalFlyer, but only one can be seen by Steve, so had the problems continued, we might have had to talk him all the way round as he flew blind! GPS is pretty important these days, and doing a round the world flight without one, he might as well have been using my infamous 'seaweed' method of plotting his route," commented Kevin Stass, Mission Control Director. Fortunately it all sorted itself out.

His route was eastabout round the world and due to aviation authority rules on round-the-world flights, Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer had to pass over 80 waypoints, filed with the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI).

The intended route was for the plane to head east from Salina in Kansas, to the Chicago area, just south of the Great Lakes, before crossing into Canada passing Toronto and Montreal. It would then reach Gander in Newfoundland, where its chase plane was due to stop to refuel, before starting across the Atlantic.

From there Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer crosses Europe, flying over Ireland, Wales, England, France, Italy and Greece before reaching the Middle East.

Stass said that clearance for this leg of the journey had been difficult to arrange with air traffic controllers, but in the end even the Libyans had offered their support (the previous round-the-world flyer Voyager lost valuable fuel when it had to be diverted around Libya, which refused permission for the craft to use its airspace). At around 2000GMT on 1 March Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer crossed Libyan airspace without a hitch.

From here the route took Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer over Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar before reaching the Far East, crossing China and Japan. Fossett's voyage was aided by good tailwinds across the final stretch of the Pacific, passing over the Midway Islands and Honolulu, before re-entering the United States just south of Los Angeles.

Fossett touched Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer down in front of a crowd of press and public at Salina Municipal Airport at 19:50GMT yesterday. For nearly three days he had survived only on power napping and diet milkshakes.

On his arrival an ecstatic Fossett drank Champagne with wife Peggy and sponsor Sir Richard Branson.

"That was a difficult trip," he commented. "I mean it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. To be on duty for three days and night with virtually no sleep." Steve added: "I was in control and I think I was able to make rational decisions and didn't make major errors, which is a great danger when you get this tired. I could do with a shower and I could do with a little sleep, but I really do feel great."

Of the record Fossett said that it was "the most important aviation record yet to be done, but it's not the last important record...I'm not ready to announce any new projects, but, in fact, I have three projects in planning right now."

More photos on page 2...