KRT CampusDuring the final minutes of his 79-hour, 26,389-mile effort to break the world record for longest flight, Steve Fossett found himself in a predicament at 40,000 feet in the air.
“What happened was, the generator burned out,” said Fossett. “You need a generator in order to recharge the batteries to run your electric systems. Without that, your batteries go dead in 25 minutes. So that’s how long I had to get back on the ground.”
After making a safe landing in Bournemouth, England, instead of at Kent International Airport as planned, Fossett had broken his 109th world record by completing the longest flight in aviation history.
Fossett, who received his MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business in 1968, has swam the English Channel, holds 14 standing sailing records, and was the first to complete a solo balloon flight around the world.
Always engaging in daring activities such as mountain climbing and flying, Fossett began his quest to break world records about 10 years after he graduated from Washington University. After several years in the business world, he realized that he “wanted to get back to adventures.”
“I just figured [breaking records] was a very interesting thing to do,” said Fossett. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of setting world records.”
The inspiration for his latest record came from a record he broke last year. After successfully becoming the first to complete a non-stop airplane flight around the world, Fossett decided to take on an even larger goal with the same plane, his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer – breaking the 24,987-mile record set by pilots Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager in 1986.
Fossett took off on Wednesday, Feb. 8 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility after a one-day delay due to a fuel leak. On Saturday, Feb. 11, he made his emergency landing with two blown tires.
“I was really very happy because it was a goal that I had to fly the longest distance,” said Fossett. “That’s one of the most important records in aviation.”
In addition to the emergency landing, spending more than three days in the air was a challenge for Fossett.
“I was very much aware that it was long flight,” said Fossett. “I was getting very restless sitting there, especially on the last day. I was also very high up on the last day at 51,000 feet.It wasn’t too much of a problem, but it was still making me uncomfortable between the altitude, the lack of sleep and sitting there over three days.”
The views out the window, however, were worth the challenges.
“There were some fantastic scenes to see,” said Fossett. “[For example,] crossing the sand dunes of western Egypt. We flew up along the coast of Japan, and saw spectacular views of Mount Fuji.”
Although Fossett had involved Washington University students in his record-breaking balloon flight in 2002, this time it was a team of aviation maintenance students and professional pilot students from Kansas State University that helped with the approximately six months of preparation necessary for this flight.
After spending more than three days above the clouds, Fossett isn’t planning to stay on the ground for long.
“My next [record] attempt will be in gliders,” said Fossett. “I’ll be going into the stratosphere, probably in September or October, and that attempt will be made in Argentina in the southern Andes.”