Mon, Sep 22, 2003
"It's Very Frustrating"
Steve Fossett, a man
whose passions include getting into the Guiness Book of Records as
often and as frequently as possible, will have to try again.
Sunday, the plucky American aviator called it quits for the season
in his attempt to break the world glider altitude record.
"It's frustrating, but this is what is involved when you are
doing endeavors which require very specific weather," the tenacious
American told The Associated Press from his Omarama flying base on
South Island, 415 miles southwest of the capital, Wellington.
Fossett and his copilot, former NASA test pilot Einar Enevoldson
failed twice in two days to find the mountain wind they needed to
boost their glider above the current record of 49,000 feet.
"The weather probably won't be good enough in the coming week"
to push the glider to record-breaking altitudes, Fossett said.
The current sailplane altitude record belongs to American Bob
Harris, who was flying over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in
California in 1986.
Trying To Catch A Wave...
The trick for Fossett
and Enevoldson has been to catch a mountain wave until they fly
into what's called the Polar Vortex. The mountain wave, which
hasn't been all that active lately, has to boost a sailplane to
approximately 36,000 feet before a pilot can slip into the vortex
and ride to even higher altitudes.
Fossett said it was proving "much more difficult than we
thought" to find the right weather conditions.
Fossett and Enevoldson have been flying a German-made glider and
wearing NASA space suits. The multimillionaire from Chicago
wouldn't put a figure on how much he has spent so far but admitted
"It's an expensive project."
More News
Chaff Thin, narrow metallic reflectors of various lengths and frequency responses, used to reflect radar energy. These reflectors, when dropped from aircraft and allowed to drift d>[...]
“Today, XB-1 took flight in the same hallowed airspace where the Bell X-1 first broke the sound barrier in 1947. I’ve been looking forward to this flight since founding>[...]
“Teaming up with the EAA and Berlin Express for this event in Cincinnati will give warbird fans a unique opportunity to see the aircraft that helped defend freedom and gave t>[...]
Hazardous Weather Information Summary of significant meteorological information (SIGMET/WS), convective significant meteorological information (convective SIGMET/WST), urgent pilot>[...]
Aero Linx: The Nebraska Aeronautics Commission The Nebraska Aeronautics Commission was created by the 1935 Legislature to oversee the development of aviation in the state. The Comm>[...]