Steve Fossett je pristal

[MarE69]

Prvi solo oblet Zemlje z enim tankanjem.

Frčoplan je pa tudi zanimiv:

[Ghostbuster]

čestitke Fossetu

Ta frčoplan pa je baje zelo dober za lovljenje termike in vetra!

[frcac]

Velik dosežek, ni pa prvi non-stop oblet zemelj kot ga vsi potencirajo v medijih. Besedica SOLO je zelo pomembna, saj je Voyager od Burta Rutana že pred sedemnajstimi leti (!) uspešno obkrožil zemljo z enim polnenjem rezervoarjev.



"The Rutan Voyager aircraft landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, to complete its record breaking, nonstop unfueled flight around the world at 8:06 a.m. PST December 23, 1987, after a nine-day flight. The 9-day, 3-minute, 44-sec. flight nearly doubled the previous distance record set in 1962 by a USAF/Boeing B-52H."

"The Rutan Aircraft Factory would soon leave its mark on aviation history with its most ambitious aircraft project, the Voyager. Designed for maximum fuel efficiency, the twin-engine Voyager was completely constructed from composite materials, including an airframe weighing only 939 pounds (426 kilograms) and a main wing so bendable that the tip flexed three to five feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) while in flight. Construction began in earnest in the summer of 1982.

Often described as a “flying fuel tank,” the Voyager was outfitted with 17 fuel tanks that carried 7,011 pounds (3,180 kilograms) of fuel—more than 72 percent of its gross weight—at takeoff. During flight, the pilots would shift fuel from tank to tank to maintain the aircraft's balance. Following a construction phase lasting almost two years and expenditure of more than 22,000 hours of labor, the Voyager made its first test flight on June 22, 1984.

Weighed down by its enormous load of fuel, the Voyager laboriously took to the skies for its round-the-world attempt on December 14, 1986, with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager at the controls. Covering 24,986 miles (40,211 kilometers) in nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds, the weather-beaten Voyager touched down on the dry lakebed at Edwards AFB, California, on December 23, 1986, having successfully circled the globe on the first non-stop, un-refueled flight. Only 106 pounds (48 kilograms) of fuel remained in the Voyager's tanks at landing."

Lp, Sašo