Fossett aims for longest nonstop flight record

Posted on: Feb. 7th, 2006 || Source: today.reuters.co.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) - Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett sets out on Tuesday for what he hopes to be the longest nonstop flight ever made by an aircraft.

The 61-year-old Fossett, who already holds piloting, ballooning, sailing and other endurance records, was not entirely confident about his planned 80-hour trip into the record books.

"It will be very close," Fossett told a preflight news conference. "I'm stretching the limits of the airplane."

Fossett was to take off shortly after dawn from the Kennedy Space Center's 15,000 foot-long shuttle runway. His team, sponsored by Virgin Atlantic Airways, chose the spaceport as a launch site because its experimental plane, the GlobalFlyer, needs a long runway to build up enough speed to leave the ground.

The plane, which weighs about 3,500 pounds empty, swells to a gross weight of more than 11 tons when fully fueled.

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