GlobalFlyer's first flight, Created by Scaled Composites at Mojave Airport, the aircraft is designed to carry record-setting pilot Steve Fossett around the world, solo, without refueling.

TAXIING to takeoff on its first flight is the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.

DRAG CHUTES  were deployed by GlobalFlyer before it successfully landing.

HOME SAFE after its first flight,  the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer heads for its  Scaled Composites hangar.

BY BILL DEAVER
 

Round-the-world airplane makes first flight
History made again at Mojave Airport

BY BILL DEAVER

MOJAVE - The latest in a long line of first flights at Mojave Airport took to the skies last Friday morning.

Scaled Composites, the Mojave firm responsible for most of the landmark flights from the local airport, flight-tested its latest design, the GlobalFlyer designed to take pilot Steve Fossett around the world without refueling.

Unveiled in spectacular ceremonies at Mojave Airport on January 8, the airplane will undergo flight testing here for its planned 80-hour around-the-world flight.

That flight is expected to be launched from somewhere in the middle of the United States later this year.

Test program

Speaking at the January rollout ceremonies, Scaled founder and GlobalFlyer designer Burt Rutan said the flight test program poses a challenge because the airplane's configuration will vary according to the amount of fuel on board, making it somewhat like several different airplanes at a time.

At takeoff on its record-attempting flight, GlobalFlyer will weigh 22,006 lbs. When it lands a bit under 80 hours later, it will have burned 18,000 lbs. of fuel, allowing it to land with a dry weight of a bit under 4,000 lbs.

Rutan, who designed the two-place Voyager airplane in which his brother Dick and Jeana Yeager became the first to circumnavigate the world without refueling, said GlobalFlyer will be able to fly above the weather because of its specially-designed Williams FJ44-3 turbojet engine.

The airplane will fly at 45,000 feet and travel 40,000 kilometers at speeds over 250 knots (285 mph,) and fly 75-percent farther than any other jet-powered airplane has flown.

GlobalFlyer is 38.7 feet long, 11.8 feet high, with a 114-foot wingspan and 400 square foot wing area. The airplane's cockpit is 7.7 feet long, pressurized, and long enough for the pilot to lie down and to store food, water, and personal gear.

Record-setting pilot

This won't be Fossett's first flight around the world by himself &endash; in 2002 he became the first person to make the trip solo in a balloon

Fossett has set numerous world records on water, including a trans-Atlantic record of four days and 17 hours.

Sir Richard Branson, who is financing the GlobalFlyer effort and is the alternate pilot for the record attempt, has broken balloon records and holds the record for the fastest sailboat crossing of the Atlantic.

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