Steve Fossett
Steve Fossett (born
April 22,
1944, in
Jackson,
Tennessee) is a
United States aviator and
adventurer known for his appetite to set world records. Fossett, who made his fortune in American
financial markets, is best known for his five world record non-stop
circumnavigations of the
Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo
airplane pilot.
Fossett grew up in Garden Grove, California. In 1966 he graduated from
Stanford University with a BA. In 1968 he graduated with a
MBA from The Olin School of Business at
Washington University in
St. Louis, Missouri and today is on the Board of Trustees. Fossett is a fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society and
The Explorers Club.
Steve Fossett is well-known for his world record-setting adventures in balloons, sailboats, gliders and powered aircraft. He is an aviator of exceptional breadth of experience, from his tenacious quest to become the first person to achieve a solo balloon flight around the world (finally succeeding on his sixth attempt in 2002) to setting, with co-pilot Terry Delore, 10 of the 21 Glider Open records, including the first 2,000 km Out-and-Return and the first 1,500 km Triangle flights. His achievements as a jet pilot in a
Cessna Citation X include records for U.S. Transcontinental, Australia Transcontinental, and Round-the-World Westbound non-supersonic flights.
In 2005, Fossett made the first solo circumnavigation of the world unrefueled non-stop in 67 hours in Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, a single engine jet airplane.
In 2006, he again circumnavigated the world unrefueled non-stop in 76 hours, 45 minutes in the Global Flyer setting the absolute record for the longest flight by any aircraft in history â€" 26,389 statute miles.
In 2002 Fossett received aviation's highest award, the Gold Medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
On
February 21,
1995, Fossett landed in Leader,
Saskatchewan,
Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the
Pacific Ocean in a
balloon.
In
2002, he became the first person to fly around the world alone, nonstop, in a balloon. He launched from
Northam,
Western Australia, on
June 19,
2002, and returned to Australia on
July 3,
2002, subsequently landing in
Queensland. Duration and distance of this solo balloon flight was 13 days 8 hours 33 minutes (14 days 19 hours 50 minutes to landing), 20,626.48 statute miles (33,195.10 km)
Steve Fossett is also one of the world's most accomplished
sailors. Speed sailing has been Fossett's specialty and, since 1993, he has dominated the record sheets, setting 23 official world records (12 still standing) and 9 distance race records (8 still standing).
On the maxi-catamaran
Cheyenne (formerly
PlayStation) Steve has twice set the prestigious 24 Hour Record of Sailing. In October 2001, Steve and his crew set a TransAtlantic record of 4 days 17 hours, shattering the previous record by 43 hours 35 minutes — an increase in average speed of nearly seven knots.
In early 2004 Fossett, as skipper, set the world record for fastest circumnavigation of the world (58 days, 9 hours) in
Cheyenne with a crew of 13.
Fossett set the Absolute World Speed Record for airships on
October 27,
2004. This new record for fastest flight with an
Airship was accomplished by flying a huge
Zeppelin NT with a recorded average speed of 62.2
knots (115.0 km/h, 71.5 mph.) The previous record was 50.1 knots (92.8 km/h, 57.7 mph) set in
2001 in a Virgin Airship.
Global Flyer
Fossett made the first solo non-stop airplane flight around the world between
28 February and
3 March, 2005. He took off from Salina, Kansas and flew eastbound with the prevailing winds and returned to Salina, Kansas after 67 hours 1 minute 10 seconds. His average speed of 342.2 mph (550.7 km/h) was also the absolute world record for speed nonstop around the world. The aircraft was named the
Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer which was a single jet engine of carbon composite construction with a single Williams jet engine. It was designed and built by
Scaled Composites for distance solo flight. The fuel capacity was 87 percent of the total takeoff weight.
On
February 11, 2006 Fossett set the absolute world record for distance without landing by flying from the
Kennedy Space Center, Florida, around the world eastbound, then upon returning overhead Florida continued across the
Atlantic a second time to land in Bournemouth, England. The official distance was 25,766 statute miles (41,467 km) and the duration was 76 hours 43 minutes.
The next month, Fossett made a third flight around the world in order to break the absolute record for closed-circuit distance (takeoff and landing at the same airport). He took off from Salina, Kansas on
14 March, 2006 and returned on
17 March, 2006 after flying 25,262 statute miles (40,655 km).
There are only seven absolute world records for fixed-wing aircraft and Fossett broke three of them in the Virgin Atlantic
Global Flyer. All three records were previously held by Richard Rutan and Jeanna Yeager from their flight in the Voyager in 1986. Fossett has contributed the
Global Flyer to the Smithsonian's permanent collection. It is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithonsian's National Air & Space Museum.
Trancontinental aircraft records
Fossett set two U.S. transcontinental airplane records in the same day. On February 5, 2003, he flew his Cessna Citation X jet from
San Diego, CA to
Charleston, SC in 2 hours, 56 minutes, 20 seconds, at an average speed of 726.83 mph (1169.73 km/h) to smash the transcontinental record for non-supersonic jets.
He returned to
San Diego, then flew the same course as co-pilot for Joe Ritchie in a
turboprop Piaggio Avanti. Their time was 3 hours, 51 minutes, 52 seconds, an average speed of 546.44 mph (879.46 km/h), which broke the previous turboprop transcontinental record held by
Chuck Yeager.
Fossett also set the east-to-west transcontinental record for non-supersonic fixed-wing aircraft on
17 September, 2000. He flew from
Jacksonville, FL to
San Diego, CA in 3 hours 29 minutes, at an average speed of 591.96 mph (952.67 km/h).
Vickers Vimy biplane
On
2 July, 2005, Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz re-created the first nonstop crossing of the Atlantic which was made by the British team of
John Alcock and
Arthur Whitten Brown in June 1919 in a
Vickers Vimy biplane. Their flight from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada to Clifden, Ireland in the open cockpit
Vickers Vimy replica took 18 hours 25 minutes.
Glider records
The team of Steve Fossett and Terry Delore (NZL) have set 10 official World Records in gliders while flying in three major locations: New Zealand, Argentina and Nevada, USA. Asterisk (*) indicates records subsequently broken by other pilots.
Distance (Free) World Record 2192.9 km -- 4 December 2004
Triangle Distance (Free) World Record 1509.7 km -- 13 December 2003
Out and Return Distance (Free) World Record* 2002.44 km -- 14 November 2003
1500 Kilometer Triangle World Record 119.11 km/h (74.02 mph) -- 13 December 2003
1250 Kilometer Triangle U.S. National Record 143.48 km/h (89.51 mph). Exceeded world record by .01 km/h -- 30 July 2003
750 Kilometer Triangle World Record 171.29 km/h (106,44 mph) -- 29 July 2003
500 Kilometer Triangle World Record* 187.12 km/h (116.27 mph) -- 15 November 2003
1000 Km Out-and-Return World Record* 166.46 km/h (103.44 mph) -- 12 December 2002
1500 Out-and-Return World Record* 156.61 km/h (97.30 mph) -- 14 November 2003
Triangle Distance (Declared) World Record 1502.6 km -- 13 December 2003
Out-and-Return Distance (Declared) World Record* 1804.7 km -- 14 November 2003
Perlan Project
Fossett joined pilot
Einar Enevoldson for the
Perlan Project. This is a program to fly a glider into the stratosphere with an objective of reaching 62,000 feet. Since the glider cockpit is unpressurized, the pilots wear full pressure suits (space suits) so that they will be able to fly to extreme altitudes above 50,000 feet. The current altitude record is 49,009 feet (14,938 m) by Robert Harris (USA) in 1986 and the highest reached by Fossett and Enevoldson to date is 43,000 feet.
As a youth, Fossett earned the rank
Eagle Scout of the
Boy Scouts of America at age 13. As an adult he was named Distinguished Eagle Scout and awarded the
Silver Buffalo by the
Boy Scouts of America. Today Fossett is a member of the
World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
Fossett has competed in and completed premier endurance sports events including the 1,165 mile
Iditarod dog sled race,
Ironman Triathlon, the
English Channel swim, and driven the
24 hours of Le Mans as well as setting cross-country skiing records. Steve is also an inveterate hiker and has accomplished 6 of the 7 major peaks in the world.
He has set 88 Aviation World Records ratified by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale plus 21 sailing world records ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
*
SteveFossett.com – Steve Fossett's official site*
"Fossett sets solo flight record" -
BBC News article dated
March 3,
2005*
"Fossett makes history" -
CNN.com article dated
March 4,
2005*
"Risky businessman - millionaire Steve Fossett", Success, November 1997, by Geoff Tabin*
Perlan Project - high altitude gliding*
World Scout Committee*
Fossett sets record for longest nonstop flight*
Virtual Tour Inside the GlobalFlyer*
Official Website of the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
