SALINA, Kan. - First
by balloon, now by plane, Steve Fossett is once
again a 'round-the-world record holder.
The millionaire adventurer on Thursday became
the first person to fly around the world alone
without stopping or refueling, touching down in
central Kansas after a 67-hour, 23,000-mile
journey that appeared endangered at times by a
troubled fuel system.
Fossett, who failed five times before
successfully circumnavigating the globe solo in
a balloon, needed just one try to make the trip
in a plane. He holds many other records as a
balloonist, pilot and sailor.
Fossett's GlobalFlyer, designed by the same
engineer who came up with the Voyager aircraft
that first completed the trip in 1986 with two
pilots aboard, touched down on the center line
at the Salina airport at 1:50 p.m. Thursday.
Immediately after leaving the cockpit, a
jubilant Fossett hugged his wife, Peggy, and was
congratulated by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin
Atlantic founder who financed the flight.
``That was something I wanted to do for a long
time, a major ambition,'' Fossett said.
Although he looked surprisingly fresh, the
millionaire from Chicago said he was tired and
ready for a bath and a good meal. He planned to
rest before attending a celebration for the crew
and supporters Thursday night in Salina.
``Believe me, it's great to be back on the
ground,'' Fossett said. ``It's one of the
hardest things I've ever done.''
Branson grabbed a bottle of champagne from
Fossett, shook it up and sprayed down the pilot.
``It's been a magnificent trip,'' Branson said.
``He was obviously over the moon about it.''
Fossett said he survived on 12 milkshakes and
water during the flight. He said his main
problems were headaches, which went away when he
drank water, and a lack of sleep. Fossett used
bottles as his bathroom.
He said he was overwhelmed by the number of
people who watched the flight on television and
the Internet, and by the tens of thousands who
were at the airport to watch him land. But he
insisted his adventures were not publicity
stunts.
``I would do these things if nobody was paying
attention,'' Fossett said.
There had been some doubt Wednesday whether
Fossett would make it back to Salina. Fuel
sensors in the custom-built plane's 13 tanks
differed from readings of how quickly its single
jet engine was burning fuel, forcing Fossett's
crew to assume that 2,600 of the original 18,100
pounds of fuel ``disappeared'' early in the
flight.
It was not clear whether there was an actual
leak or just a problem with the sensors,
Fossett's team said.
Facing a decision near Hawaii about whether to
land or press ahead over the vast Pacific Ocean
for the U.S. mainland, Fossett told his team,
``Let's go for it.'' Hours later, pushed by
strong tail winds that left him with enough in
the tanks to finish the global trek, he safely
crossed over Los Angeles.
Fossett chose Salina because he needed a long
runway for the takeoff and landing. The runway
in Salina - once used to train WWII bomber crews
- extends about 12,000 feet.
Fossett, 60, set his ballooning record in 2002,
taking off and landing in Australia. He also has
swum the English Channel, taken part in the
Iditarod sled dog race and driven in the 24
Hours of Le Mans car race.
The GlobalFlyer's trip broke several other
aviation records, including the longest flight
by a jet without refueling. The record was more
than 12,000 miles, set by a B-52 bomber in 1962.
Aviation pioneer Wiley Post made the first solo
around-the-world trip in 1933, taking more than
seven days and stopping numerous times. The
first nonstop global flight without refueling
was made in a propeller-driven aircraft in 1986
by Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, brother of
GlobalFlyer designer Burt Rutan. AP
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