UNVEILING - Steve Fossett and Sir Richard Branson hold a model of the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer to be unveiled Thursday morning at Scaled Composites at Mojave Airport. Financed by billionaire Branson, the single-engine airplane will be flown by one of the two men in an attempt to circumnavigate the world without refueling. Both plan to be on-hand for the unveiling.

'Global Express' unveiled Thursday

Around the world with one engine and one pilot

BY BILL DEAVER
 

MOJAVE - The latest creation from Scaled Composites 'magic factory' was revealed to the world Thursday, an aircraft designed to fly around the world in 80 hours without refueling.

The Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer is designed to fly around the world in 80 hours without refueling, and was designed and built by the only person in the world with experience in creating an airplane that can fly around the globe without a pit stop.

Seventeen years ago Burt Rutan saw an airplane he had designed land after doing just that at nearby Edwards Air Force Base. Rutan's brother Dick was at the controls of Voyager, an airplane that now hangs from the ceiling of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

One pilot

This time the airplane Burt Rutan and his talented crew has created will have only one pilot and one engine, along with something else Dick Rutan didn't have - an autopilot.

The aircraft will be piloted by Fossett, with Branson as reserve pilot.

The two men previously attempted to be the first to fly a balloon around the world. Branson owns Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Records, and has been involved in a number of record-breaking efforts.

Global racing?

Dick Rutan hailed the new attempt for what it could bring to the world of aviation sports.

"It's neat, I'm glad to see that," he said, adding that he sees something else resulting from a successful solo global flight.

"This could evolve into trans-global air racing - that's what I want it to do," Rutan said.

"I started an organization called 'TARA,' - TransGlobal Air Race Association - for air races around the world," he said.

"This guy has to be successful for that to happen, because nobody would build an airplane like Voyager, they'd be a fool," he said.

This is not the first time Fossett, Branson, and Rutan's paths have crossed.

Rutan and a partner built a balloon with which they hoped to be first around the world but it crashed soon after taking off. Fossett and Branson were in the same competition.

Fossett is no stranger to East Kern - he and a team have been flying a sailplane from California City Airport in an effort to establish a new world altitude record of 62,000 feet. The current record is 49,008. Flying with Einar Enevoldson, Fossett was able to reach only 24,500 feet from a base in New Zealand on September 20. The team is returning home to try again next year. Fossett was in Mojave earlier this year at the rollout of Scaled's SpaceShipOne.

Jet-powered

The team plans to use available winds to reach their goal and will fly in excess of 250 knots, according to GlobalFlyer media information.

GlobalFlyer will fly at altitudes up to 52,000 ft. and will take off from a location in the central United States. Its route will take it across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom and then south to the Mediterranean and through the Persian Gulf to Pakistan, India, China, and Japan.

From there it will cross the Pacific and head back to the launch destination.

The flight is expected to take 80 hours.

During the flight, GlobalFlyer could cross over or near Montreal, Gander, London, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Bahrain, Karachi, Calcutta, Shanghai, Tokyo. Honolulu, and Los Angeles.

While Voyager was powered by two propeller engines, GlobalFlyer will have one Williams FJ44-3 ATW jet engine with 2,300 lbs., rated thrust drinking fuel from 17 tanks.

The airplane, which looks a lot like Voyager, will have a wingspan of 114 ft. and will be 38.7 ft. long and stand 11.8 ft. high.

The pilot will lie in a pressurized cockpit 7.7 feet long containing food, water, and personal equipment. The airplane will land and take-off on retractable tricycle landing gear and all controls are mechanically-actuated using cables, push-pull tubes and bellcranks, and are fully reversible.

Fossett said the composite-constructed airplane will be the lightest aircraft relative to fuel weight that has ever been built. Test flights are expected to begin in March.

The invitation-only rollout will be held at Mojave Airport at 8 a.m. Thursday.
 
 
 

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