Our intrepid billionaire on his way?

[Stewart Kissel]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/28/fossett.branson/

Any news if he launched succesfully?

If you got rid of the jet engine...what sort of L/D
might that thing have? And what would you use to tow
it?

[[email protected]]

Lose the engines but keep the fuel tanks for ballast. Ballasted it
would have a wing loading of 55 psf, dump the ballast and you're down
to 10 psf.

[Crusty O'l Fart]

yawn

Stewart Kissel wrote:
> http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/28/fossett.branson/
>
> Any news if he launched succesfully?
>
> If you got rid of the jet engine...what sort of L/D
> might that thing have? And what would you use to tow
> it?
>
>
>

[Stewart Kissel]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/28/globalflyer.fossett.ap/index.ht
ml

Sounds like he got off okay.

[bumper]

He got airborne at 00.47 UTC and is now heading to Detroit (or there'bouts)
doing 306 knots over the ground at 37,900 feet.
God speed . . . and a safe flight . . .

bumper

> wrote in message
ps.com...
> Lose the engines but keep the fuel tanks for ballast. Ballasted it
> would have a wing loading of 55 psf, dump the ballast and you're down
> to 10 psf.
>

[Stewart Kissel]

http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp

Hard to get on this URL...for current tracking.

Hey Lennie...that last post of yours was about the
most intelligent utterance from you in a long time.
If this bores you, why not go back to watching your
'Wheel of Fortune' reruns, or the Micheal Jackson trial.






At 04:00 01 March 2005, Bumper wrote:
>He got airborne at 00.47 UTC and is now heading to
>Detroit (or there'bouts)
>doing 306 knots over the ground at 37,900 feet.
>God speed . . . and a safe flight . . .
>
>bumper
>
> wrote in message
ps.com...
>> Lose the engines but keep the fuel tanks for ballast.
>> Ballasted it
>> would have a wing loading of 55 psf, dump the ballast
>>and you're down
>> to 10 psf.
>>
>
>
>

[Crusty O'l Fart]

Not Lennie. A resident of NV that has actually met and spent time around
Fossett. He's an ass.


Stewart Kissel wrote:
> http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
>
> Hard to get on this URL...for current tracking.
>
> Hey Lennie...that last post of yours was about the
> most intelligent utterance from you in a long time.
> If this bores you, why not go back to watching your
> 'Wheel of Fortune' reruns, or the Micheal Jackson trial.
>
>
>
>
>

[Marian Aldenhövel]

Hi,

> yawn

Not yet propably. But wait for 40 hours.

Ciao, MM
--
Marian Aldenhövel, Rosenhain 23, 53123 Bonn. +49 228 624013.
http://www.marian-aldenhoevel.de
"Ich hoffe Sie können mir helfen. Ein Freund hat mir einen tollen
Bildschirmschoner aufgespielt, aber jedesmal wenn ich die Maus bewege
ist er weg."

[Marian Aldenhövel]

Hi,

> Any news if he launched succesfully?

Obviously. And he took a large part of canada with him:

http://www.marian-aldenhoevel.de/tmp/canadian_airspace.png

Ciao, MM

[5Z]

You might not like him, but it's people like him that do "interesting"
things that can stir up excitement in aviation.

[bumper]

"Crusty O'l Fart" > wrote in message
om...
> Not Lennie. A resident of NV that has actually met and spent time around
> Fossett. He's an ass.


I'm also a resident of NV who has actually met and spent time around
Fossett, though admittedly not a lot of time, and we've talked on the phone
a few times too. I found him as pleasant and unpretentious as most anyone
else I've met on the ramp. With few exceptions, I've found everyone I've met
in this sport to be intelligent and pleasant.

I think a lot of the negative comments and innuendo about Fossett are driven
by jealousy. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is helping promote aviation
is okay by me. Calling someone an "ass" on ras is hardly polite.

bumper
Minden NV "ZZ"

[Gary Boggs]

Does anyone have a link to current satellite images of that area so we can
get some idea of his view?


"Marian Aldenhövel" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
>> Any news if he launched succesfully?
>
> Obviously. And he took a large part of canada with him:
>
> http://www.marian-aldenhoevel.de/tmp/canadian_airspace.png
>
> Ciao, MM

[Sven Olivier]

http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/

"Gary Boggs" > wrote in message
...
> Does anyone have a link to current satellite images of that area so we can
> get some idea of his view?
>
>
> "Marian Aldenhövel" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi,
>>
>>> Any news if he launched succesfully?
>>
>> Obviously. And he took a large part of canada with him:
>>
>> http://www.marian-aldenhoevel.de/tmp/canadian_airspace.png
>>
>> Ciao, MM
>
>

[Shawn]

bumper wrote:
> "Crusty O'l Fart" > wrote in message
> om...
>
>>Not Lennie. A resident of NV that has actually met and spent time around
>>Fossett. He's an ass.
>
>
>
> I'm also a resident of NV who has actually met and spent time around
> Fossett, though admittedly not a lot of time, and we've talked on the phone
> a few times too. I found him as pleasant and unpretentious as most anyone
> else I've met on the ramp. With few exceptions, I've found everyone I've met
> in this sport to be intelligent and pleasant.

My brief in-person meeting of SF and a couple e-mails exchanged were
similar.

> I think a lot of the negative comments and innuendo about Fossett are driven
> by jealousy. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is helping promote aviation
> is okay by me. Calling someone an "ass" on ras is hardly polite.

Alas (tehe!) hardly unusual.

Shawn

[[email protected]]

I see that Fosset's benefactor, Sir Richard, gave him his wris****ch
"complete with emergency beacon device" (AP news Clip). Now that
sounds like a useful item. __mike

[Crusty O'l Fart]

Oh, Richard Branson. There's a brilliant one. Came to Zephyrhills to get
"parachute" training for his baloon oddesey (failure BTW). He made
several AFF jumps. On the last, and under good canopy, he cuts away at
1200' and deploys the reserve "just to see what it's like". WHAT AN
IDIOT! He was asked to leave shortly thereafter. Video available.
And, jealous you say? Not I. I am plenty comfortable. If it weren't for
Terry D (great pilot and great guy), we would be saying Steve who?
And one more thing, with all that money, you'd think he could get a
better mistress. She's a real winner (not).

Cachuck.....

wrote:
> I see that Fosset's benefactor, Sir Richard, gave him his wris****ch
> "complete with emergency beacon device" (AP news Clip). Now that
> sounds like a useful item. __mike
>

[Stewart Kissel]

http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp

Over China...halfway around....

[Gary Boggs]

Here's a GOES 9 image:

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/FULLDISK/GPIR.JPG

And here's the jet for the remainder of the trip:

http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/jetstream_norhem_00.gif


"Stewart Kissel" > wrote in
message ...
> http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
>
> Over China...halfway around....
>
>
>

[Stewart Kissel]

Trouble developing...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7066507/




At 16:30 02 March 2005, Gary Boggs wrote:
>Here's a GOES 9 image:
>
>http://www.goes.noaa.gov/FULLDISK/GPIR.JPG
>
>And here's the jet for the remainder of the trip:
>
>http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/jetstream_norhem_00.gif
>
>
>'Stewart Kissel' wrote in
>message ...
>> http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
>>
>> Over China...halfway around....
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

Running out of gas. He'll need to stop and thermal a few times.

[Gary Boggs]

How about wave, maybe he'll set that altitude record solo after all!
It looks like there might be some wave clouds east of the Big Island!

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/ha2.html

That would sure make for some great headlines!

Would it still qualify for the around the world record?


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Running out of gas. He'll need to stop and thermal a few times.
>

[Stewart Kissel]

http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp

Appears that he is feet dry over SoCal...

[5Z]

So looks like he'll be flying fairly close to Colorado Springs.
Unfortunately, the live tracking page is providing totally bogus info.

Coordinates are: E5.19129 N31.38990

Longitude is totally busted and latitude puts him south of Tucson, yet
the map has him near Flagstaff.

Too bad, as I'd like to add this to my portfolio of "record sightings".
The Voyager flew over my house on departure and I attended the landing
at Edwards.

-Tom

[5Z]

Hm, looks like yet another web glitch. I've had a Firefox window open
for a couple days and it seems only the map updates. Opend a IE window
and coordinates are now much better.

-Tom

[Malcolm Austin]

Can't say I'm impressed with this web page, not up to standard you would
expect of such a crowd of people?

Malcolm...


"Stewart Kissel" > wrote in
message ...
> http://www.globalflyer.com/MissionControl/Tracking/index.jsp
>
> Over China...halfway around....
>
>
>

[Marian Aldenhövel]

Hi,

> Can't say I'm impressed with this web page

Propably going down under excessive load. I have not been able to get an
update since he made dry land. Also the update interval has increased from
"every minute, map every 5 minutes" to "every 3 minutes, map every 20
minutes".

Someone underestimated the public interest after all.

Ciao, MM
--
Marian Aldenhövel, Rosenhain 23, 53123 Bonn. +49 228 624013.
http://www.marian-aldenhoevel.de
"Ich hoffe Sie können mir helfen. Ein Freund hat mir einen tollen
Bildschirmschoner aufgespielt, aber jedesmal wenn ich die Maus bewege
ist er weg."