Virgin Globalflyer finally takes off

[John Doe]

Did anyone watch the Globalflyer take off this morning?

I thought I was going to witness a big fireball for a bit there. It took
him forever to get off the ground, much longer than planned. Based on the
wing flex, it sure look like he snatched the yoke back in a desperate
attempt to get off the ground. I was amazed the wings didn't snap.

Here's what his webpage had to say about the takeoff:

The few onlookers allowed in the NASA perimeters nervously watched Steve
pass the 8000ft mark on the runway where he had hoped to take off. Finally
the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer managed to lift off the ground at 11,500ft
with about 4000ft of runway remaining. If anything had gone wrong Steve
would not have had the 7000ft of runway needed to stop the aircraft.

[Toks Desalu]

He had two bird strikes on takeoff, but no damage to the aircraft.

"John Doe" > wrote in message
news:4ZtGf.24579$Dh.19326@dukeread04...
> Did anyone watch the Globalflyer take off this morning?
>
> I thought I was going to witness a big fireball for a bit there. It took
> him forever to get off the ground, much longer than planned. Based on the
> wing flex, it sure look like he snatched the yoke back in a desperate
> attempt to get off the ground. I was amazed the wings didn't snap.
>
> Here's what his webpage had to say about the takeoff:
>
> The few onlookers allowed in the NASA perimeters nervously watched Steve
> pass the 8000ft mark on the runway where he had hoped to take off. Finally
> the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer managed to lift off the ground at 11,500ft
> with about 4000ft of runway remaining. If anything had gone wrong Steve
> would not have had the 7000ft of runway needed to stop the aircraft.
>
>

[Flyingmonk]

Did the birds make it? <g>

The Monk