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Bournemouth Airport, England – February 13, 2006 – Steve Fossett had just piloted the GlobalFlyer for 76 hours and 45 minutes, and then experienced a difficult and dangerous landing. But what’s the first thing he did after landing at Bournemouth Airport Saturday and breaking the world record for the longest flight?
After a brief medical checkup, he got on another plane — this time a Citation X — and traveled to what was supposed to have been his final stop, Kent International Airport in England.
Adventurer Steve Fossett broke the world record for the longest flight on Saturday, traveling 26,389 miles nonstop without refueling. But the record didn’t come easy.
Problems plagued the flight from the moment he took off in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida on Feb. 8. The plane lost 750 pounds of fuel on take-off and hit two birds. He faced extreme heat in the cabin when a malfunction in the ventilation cooling system caused temperatures to hit up to 130 degrees F and forced Fossett to drink much of the 3 gallons of drinking water he had brought with him. Unfavorable weather patterns and weak jet streams plagued his flight. Over India he faced severe turbulence, and the wings of the GlobalFlyer flexed so much that Fossett put on his oxygen mask and parachute in case the airplane broke apart.
But the last problem, a large-scale electrical malfunction, caused him to make an unplanned landing at Bournemouth. Just miles from Kent airport, however, it didn’t cost him the record.
"It was too exciting of a finish,” Fossett said. “Never during all of this would I have believed that 45 minutes out of Kent I would be in an emergency situation the likes of which I have rarely experienced before."
That said, it could have saved his life. On landing, two tires on the GlobalFlyer burst and the windscreen was so iced up that Fossett could barely see. But the plane only had 200 pounds of fuel left. If he had continued, it may well have turned into another emergency.
At Kent, Sir Richard Branson praised Fossett as a "remarkable man and a great friend" and the two men toasted each other with a glass of champagne.
Craig Glenday, the editor of Guinness World Records, was present to award Fossett with his certificate for breaking the record for the Longest Non Stop Flight. It is Fossett’s 110th world record.
By the numbers
- Steve Fossett flew 26,389.3 miles in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, breaking the 24,987-mile record set by Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan in 1986 in the Voyager. Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites designed both airplanes.
- The flight also broke the record of the longest flight by any kind of aircraft, 25,361 miles flown by the Breitling Orbiter balloon in 1999.
- The GlobalFlyer has a fuel capacity of over 18,000 pounds, and 750 pounds of fuel were vented off at take off. Approximately 200 pounds of fuel were left at landing.
Need a well-traveled watch?
Sir Richard Branson will reportedly sell the Breitling wristwatch he “lent” to Steve Fossett for the Ultimate Flight on eBay, giving the proceeds to charity.
Branson did the same thing after Fossett’s around-the-world flight last year, selling the watch for $650,000. The second watch is expected to fetch at least that much.
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Adventurer Steve Fossett peers out of the cramped cockpit of the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. Fossett set a new record for non-stop flight when he touched down in England on Saturday, Feb. 10 completing a journey that covered more than 26,000 miles in just less than 77 hours.
An up-close look at the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer during the record-setting flight.
Steve Fossett (left) and Sir Richard Branson pose with the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
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