Despite fuel loss (or instrument failure), Steve Fossett is scheduled to land in Salina, Kansas today about 19:20GMT (2:20PM EST) after a 23,000 mile world roundtrip nonstop solo!
Two things puzzle me in this story:
What happened to the non-stop flight in 1986 by Yeager & Rutan? Wouldn’t that one exceed the B-52’s record by a factor of 2?
And another thing:
Why not? What does the FAI want?
" . . . after a 23,000 mile world roundtrip nonstop solo!"
Latest update:
According to the official site, estimated landing will be
I guess Steve has picked up a tailwind that’s glad to see him.
Sorry, now I see what you’re saying - that the Yeager Rutan flight exceeded the '62 B-52 distance so why wasn’t it mentioned instead. Was the '62 flight solo? Curious, must investigate. . .
from http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/11041551.htm
Mission Control Page with Steve’s current position updated every three minutes on a map, also a live cockpit video, although I get a “stack overflow” error when I view that page and the cockpit looks empty!
Lieu, “solo” wasn’t mentioned in those claims, but maybe that’s it. Can you fly a B-52 solo?
I found this here: "On 10-11 January 1962, a B-52H of the 4136th Strategic Wing, Minot AFB, North Dakota, completed a record-breaking 12,532.28-mile unrefueled flight from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to Tbrrejon Air Base, Spain. This flight broke the old “distance in a straight line” world record of 11,235.6 miles held by the U.S. Navy’s propeller-driven “Truculent Turtle.”
Could the “straight line” component play a part? Or might Yeager & Rutan not have met some critical FAI requirement? Off for more digging . . .
While lieu is digging, Steve is winging… 
Are lieu and I the only Dopers watching this thing?
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/135510/1/.html
Since there is only a hour to go, and he is currently at 23,000 ft, 134 knots (decelerating & descending), I’d say that even if he just ran out of fuel, he’s going to make it.
Relatively crash-free, we hope.
Many of the articles I came across reaffirm that Yeager & Rutan’s Voyager flight holds the distance record, yet Fosse’s team claims the new record over the '62 flight and never mentions Voyager. I couldn’t find anything to explain the discrepancy. My guess is that, as with the 777’s claim to “Greatest distance in a great circle”, there’s some semantical angle to the claim. What it is exactly I’m not sure but here is, no doubt, the best place to encounter some kind soul in the know.
From your first link
Yeager & Rutan
Solo no
Non stop yes
jet no
without refueling yes
B 52
Solo no
non stop yes
jet yes
without refueling yes.
I think the critical item here is the powerplant, both the B52 and Mr. Fossett’s plane are jet powered.
Rick: To repeat my quote,
There are only two conditions in this news statement. Solo and refueling wasn’t mentioned (perhaps the statement was faulty, but that’s what it said.)
B-52, 1962:
12,000 miles
nonstop: yes
Rutan/Yeager, 1984:
23,000 miles
nonstop: yes
Now which one should hold this record (until today)?
The Rutan & Yeager flight should, since it was the longest distance nonstop without refueling and the first trip around the world nonstop without refueling.
If Fosset is attempting to claim that his flight will both be the longest distance nonstop without refueling and the first around the world flight, nonstop without refueling, he’s full of it.
He may be the first person who did it solo, but not the first flight of that specification.
And he’s done it.
I’m not going to rain on anyone’s parade over such quibbling details. Fossett has done something no one else ever did before and broke multiple records in the process. I have already gotten over that test pilots must be military to have the right stuff and no one should know their names. This harkens back to the golden age of aviation when the fastest planes in the world weren’t military but built in the Granville brother’s garage.
Hell of a hat trick for Burt Rutan too, building both planes that did nonstop, non-IFR circumnavigations and the first private, human carrying spacecraft.
Sounds like Fosse has the new record for longest distance w/o landing or refuelling in a jet and solo to boot but that either his team or the media has been sloppy in their description/reporting.
It’s a helluva feat, although Yeager & Rutan should be able to expect for this new feat to be celebrated without their equally impressive feat being trampled on.
Nevertheless, kudos for that and first solo around the world to Fosse.
I’m with you Musicat, a little accuracy or an adequate description shouldn’t have been too much to ask here.
I don’t have CNN, damn. Did they show it live? None of the major networks carried it all all.
The official web site says he landed at 19:52 UTC. That would make him about 35 minutes later than expected. Did he run out of fuel and have to glide or did he stunt for the audience? Or use a parachute?
The speed/altitude says 0 knots, 1234 ft. For a minute there, with no forward motion, I thought he was about to crash. Then I realized that is probably the height of Salina above sea level!
What’s next? Around the world 2X nonstop? Pole-to-pole and back?
FYI:
The above from http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/News/Record_collectors.jsp
The media I can understand, but since this event is quite an incestuous family-affair with the Rutans who were involved in both, odd that it got so confused.
Here’s the first flight wrapup I’ve seen on the Web.
Here’s a great picture of the plane. The wings look too thin to hold anything up.
I know what’s next: Round-the-world, no human pilot! Either guided from the ground or self-piloted.
Yeager and Rutan refueled. Fossett is not refuleing.
Cite? :dubious: