Cleared for Takeoff
February 28th, 2005 - 12:34 pm
Meanwhile, in America, our crazy-cool lives go on:
Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett was the first person to circle the globe solo in a hot-air balloon. Now, he wants to make the trip in a single-engine airplane without stopping – another aviation first.
Fossett, 60, hoped to take off in his GlobalFlyer on Monday afternoon at Salina Municipal Airport and land there again about 66 hours later. The 23,000-mile flight had already been postponed several times because of shifting jet stream patterns or weather at Salina.
“I’m a bit nervous about takeoff,” said Fossett, 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.”
Godspeed.
How is he going to stay awake for the whole 66 hours?
This guy is going to fly for 3 times longer than he has spent in the plane prior to take-off? Ooookay then, Godspeed, indeed.
He’s going to remain alert till it has burned enough fuel that the trim stops changing, and then turn on a special autopilot with a loud alarm on it and let himself nod off a little.
By the way, Varifrank, who launched from the comment section here, has been posting about this for a few days now.
“I’m a bit nervous about takeoff,” said Fossett, who has logged about 30 hours in the jet-powered aircraft.
The man is insane. He needs to keep practicing until he’s got about an order of magnitude more experience, then he’ll be ready for a stunt like this. As-is, all he’s going to be is a chance for people to make some money in a dead pool.
While the distance, 25+/- miles is minisucule compared to the global circumnavigation, I recently watched the NOVA presentation of Louis Bleriot’s flight across the English Channel in 1909 and the challenge and personal courage involved would seem far greater than the “stunts” of todays millionaires.
Is Fossett’s life in danger in any way greater than a street crossing in NYC? I think not.
Surely not compared to Louis’s feat, nor even those who do the solo circumnavigation at the helm of a sailboat.
Fossett’s is just another endeavour of meaningless crap! Success or not.
Mike
BTW, I’m just a cynical old fart, watching “Power Tool Drag Racing” on Discovery TV, which seems most comparable to Fossett’s worthless endeavour.
I wonder…what is his flight plan for passing through the Asian half of the world? There be some large patches of inhospitable airspace there (Middle East, China), unless he takes the all-Siberian route (pack extra blankets), or goes across the Indian Ocean. The latter option requires travel over at least one of Africa’s worst thugocracies – Libya, Sudan, Congo – unless he takes an extreme southern route, goes the length of the Red Sea, or crosses the Arabian peninsula.
66 hours round trip in a plane, probably a few weeks to do it in the balloon. Now there’s a man who can spend quality time with himself.
Ah, I see in Yahoo News that he did go across Libya. Guess the thaw with Qadaffi is paying off.