Adventurer Steve Fossett is to attempt the first solo non-stop round-the-world unrefuelled flight next year, using a Burt Rutan-designed aircraft capable of staying aloft for 80h.
Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson will be the reserve pilot for the Virgin Atlantic Airways-sponsored attempt scheduled for either April or October next year, depending on weather.
The 11.8m (38.7ft)-long jet-powered GlobalFlyer is due to be completed at Rutan's Scaled Composites facility in Mojave, California, in December. With a maximum take-off weight of 10,000kg (22,000lb), it will carry almost 8,200kg of fuel, the highest fuel-weight proportion of any aircraft to date, according to Branson.
The GlobalFlyer features a single composite structure high- aspect ratio unswept wing with a span of 34.8m and an area of 37m2 (400ft2). The wing will bend upwards significantly for the early portion of the flight, returning to a more conventional shape as the fuel load lightens. Twin tail booms serve as additional fuel tanks and mounts for the retractable landing gear.
With an empty weight of only 1,090kg, the aircraft has a small 2.1m pressurised cockpit located in the centre fuselage, above which is mounted a single 2,300lb (10.2kN) Williams FJ44-3 ATW turbofan.
Although resembling Rutan's piston-powered Voyager, which achieved the first non-stop round-the-world flight in 1986, the GlobalFlyer should complete the challenge in about one-third the time of the 216h two-person Voyager flight, and its high cruise altitude will allow it to avoid much of the adverse weather encountered by the original mission.
The GlobalFlyer will cruise at about 250kt (460km/h) at 45,000-52,000ft.
Source: Flight International
