On 3 March 2005 American adventurer Steve Fossett piloting the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation flight of the earth
His aircraft, known as Model 311 was manufactured by Scaled Composites and designed by Burt Rutan specifically to attempt the non-stop flight. Constructed of carbon reinforced epoxy, the plane had a wingspan of 34.75 metres and a length of 13.44 metres and was powered by a Williams FJ44 turbofan jet engine
With a glide ratio of 37, aerodynamic drag was so low that, even with the engine idling, the maximum rate of descent was only 700 feet per minute. Two drogue parachutes were used to slow the aircraft down for landing
Following successful test flights at Mohave, California in January 2005, the machine was moved to Salina, Kansas for the record attempt and to wait for a suitable “weather window”
To meet the ‘circumnavigation’ definition, Global Flyer had to fly not less than 36,787.559 kilometres (22,858.729 miles) – the length of the Tropic of Cancer – and a weather forecast for low turbulence with a strong tailwind was essential for success
Departing from Salinas on 28 February, Fossett completed the journey when he made the return touchdown at 19:50 UTC on 3 March 2005; having flown 36,912 kilometres (22,936 miles) in an elapsed time of 2 days, 19 hours, 1 minute and 46 seconds at an average speed of 550.78 km/h (342.24 mph)
