Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has taken off on his attempt to become the first person to complete a solo trip around the world in an airplane without making a single stop.
Fossett, the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon, launched his GlobalFlyer from the Salina Municipal Airport shortly before 7pm Monday, beginning a 66-hour journey by climbing northeast into a darkening sky.
Hundreds of spectators, braving a bitterly cold wind, gathered along the 3km runway to watch the takeoff. Fossett hoped to return to Salina on Thursday morning.
PHOTO: AFP
The 37,000km flight had already been postponed several times because of shifting jet stream patterns or weather at the airport.
"I'm a bit nervous about takeoff," said Fossett, 60, who has logged about 30 hours in the jet-powered aircraft. "I will be the ultimate test pilot. I have a lot to worry about. It's a major endeavor."
Financed by Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson, it would be the first solo flight around the world without stopping to refuel.
Branson watched the takeoff from the side of the runway with Fossett's wife.
"It was obviously an emotional moment and the most dangerous part of the journey," he said. "It was an enormous relief when it actually came off the ground."
By late Monday night, Fossett was soaring over Canada.
"He was pretty determined to get away," project manager Paul Moore said at a briefing hours after the takeoff.
Aviation pioneer Wiley Post made the first solo around-the-world trip in 1933, taking more than seven days and stopping numerous times along the way. The first nonstop global flight without refueling by a duo was made in 1986 by Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, brother of Burt Rutan, designer of the GlobalFlyer.
Besides the nonstop record, Fossett will attempt to break seven other aviation records, including the longest flight by a jet aircraft. The current record is more than 19,300km, set by a B-52 bomber in 1962.
Mission control director Kevin Stass said Fossett would fly over Chicago, Detroit and Canada before heading across the Atlantic late Monday night. The route would then take him over Africa, the Middle East, India, China and the Pacific Ocean.
The flight plan was adjusted once more later Monday after Algeria closed a portion of its airspace, mission control director Kevin Stass said. The change, he said, would slightly reduce the overall length of the flight and save some of the 8,100kg of fuel aboard the single-engine jet.
Fossett planned to fly at an average speed of 462.6kph and rely on the jet stream to stretch his fuel.
The GlobalFlyer will have about 15 percent extra fuel to allow for weather conditions or other changes to the flight plan, said Jon Karkow, chief engineer for the flight.
There was a risk the fuel could freeze from flying in the cold at altitudes of 15,600m for such a long time.
Fossett will survive on diet milkshakes.
"I just picked a bunch of flavors off the shelf at the store," he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese