4 March 2005
A very tired and weary Steve Fosset climbed from the cramped GlobalFlyer cockpit after 67 hours and 2 minutes of confinement and sleep deprivation having set the solo round-the-world, non-refuelled record.
He completed his mission, long planned by Virgin boss Richard Branson and Scaled Composite’s Burt Rutan, despite a fuel shortage, landing the Virgin GlobalFlyer at 1950 GMT on March 3rd in Salina, Kansas.
The US millionaire had considered aborting the trip and landing in Hawaii, but he decided to press on because of favourable tail winds.
He was frank about his motivation; “I do these things because I want to do them for my self esteem and my personal satisfaction, and this is the first time a big crowd has come out to support me on a project and in the records that I do. I think that’s a really good sign that all these people share the enthusiasm and excitement for an airplane adventure.”
Steve holds more than 100 world records in five different fields of endeavour. In 2002, he became the first man to fly round the world in a balloon single-handed.
