Global Flyer is over Africa

[jsaxton 0]

well at that speed which I guess is pretty close to re-entry speed, I guess that they'll be seeing the earth through a wall of flame.

[billvon 3,120]

>I guess that they'll be seeing the earth through a wall of flame.

If they're inside the atmosphere, and if we don't make any advances in aerodynamics. Remember that people once thought that exceeding the sound barrier would kill you; nowadays private aircraft do it pretty regularly.

[jtval 0]

if you wanna start at the beginning, when the model t was build people thought your face would be ripped off if you went 50 MPH

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[n2skdvn 0]

hey bill got any black holes handy? Maby a few cosmic strings?

if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
my site

[GeordieSkydiver 0]

Quote

We only know of a few ways time travel is even theoretically possible, and they're sort of difficult (unless you have a star-sized rod of ultradense material spinning at relativistic speeds, that is.)

Well why didn't somebody say?

I'm sure I have a couple of those hanging around in the loft.

Lee _______________________________

In a world full of people, only some want to fly, is that not crazy?
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk

[champu 1]

This orbit talk got me thinking about the next x-prize which involves two complete orbits before re-entering, as well as other specifications.

At first glance it seemed like Space Ship One's team had a big head start already having accomplished what they have. But after looking at it a bit more, it seems like they've tackled less than 10% of the problem.

[Buried 0]

Out over China

from bbc news

Quote

His GlobalFlyer plane has reached China - half way around the world - but he has insufficient fuel to get him home to Kansas without favourable winds.

Mission controllers will have to decide whether to call off the attempt before Fossett heads out over the Pacific.

The adventurer left the US on Tuesday at 0500 GMT

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[IanHarrop 43]

Past China - over water - headed for Japan

edited for update

Past Japan - heading for Hawaii - fuel a real problem. Mission managers said that they would announce a decision Wednesday afternoon about whether to end the adventure in Hawaii.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[jimmytavino 16]

seemed he flew east over the north atlantic, then across algeria and Africa.. Then over china , japan and continuing on.....
All these locations are roughly between 15 degrees North Latitude and 45 degrees north Latitude.......
In generally accepted "Aviation Ettiquette" would that constitute,, circumnavigation??????..
I would think in order to fly "around the world".. you'd have to do it somewhere near to it's largest size ,, either equally above and below the equator or else along a Line of longitude,, not latitude,
( unless of course it was the equator...) ... I guess it depends on the definition of circumnavigate.. In Fact perhaps some of the North Pole Tandem Adventurers can make the claim,,, if they had been able to spiral around the top of the world while under canopy,,, at 89 degrees, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds North Latitude
so then what is the position on this????? for sure the further north of 0 degrees,,, the Shorter the distance the aircraft must fly, when compared the the circumference of the planet... right??

[IanHarrop 43]

see this link for information regarding the route, its length and FAI rules about flying around the world.

http://www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com/Aircraft/RecordAttempt/index.jsp

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[indyz 1]

Quote

seemed he flew east over the north atlantic, then across algeria and Africa.. Then over china , japan and continuing on.....
All these locations are roughly between 15 degrees North Latitude and 45 degrees north Latitude.......
In generally accepted "Aviation Ettiquette" would that constitute,, circumnavigation??????..
I would think in order to fly "around the world".. you'd have to do it somewhere near to it's largest size ,, either equally above and below the equator or else along a Line of longitude,, not latitude,
( unless of course it was the equator...) ... I guess it depends on the definition of circumnavigate.. In Fact perhaps some of the North Pole Tandem Adventurers can make the claim,,, if they had been able to spiral around the top of the world while under canopy,,, at 89 degrees, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds North Latitude
so then what is the position on this????? for sure the further north of 0 degrees,,, the Shorter the distance the aircraft must fly, when compared the the circumference of the planet... right??

From the website:

"The FAI's rules state that a record attempt like this must start and finish at the same airfield and cross all meridians of the globe. What's more the course must not be less than the very precise figure of 36,787.559 kilometres (around 23,000 miles) which is equal in length to the Tropic of Cancer. To allow the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer to catch the vital jet stream winds, the FAI rules don't oblige that record attempts follow the imaginary line of the Tropic itself but simply that the distance flown exceeds it.

That doesn't mean, however, that Steve Fossett could fly across the Poles. The course must also be kept away from the North and South 'Frigid Zones', defined as being at latitudes of over 66degrees33minutes."

[bmcd308 0]

He is running out of gas.

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www.jumpelvis.com

[AndyMan 7]

It's true. Contemplating setting down in Hawaii. Current location is a few hundred miles east of Japan. Slashdot discussion here.

News buletin from Virgin here.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[piisfish 140]

he is past JAPAN now...

hope he can make it safely to dry land..

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[mx757 4]

well past Hawaii and half way to California now..

[Zep 0]

Quote

> Negative G dive the whole way round.

You got it! You'd spend the whole flight looking up at the earth.

Your going to hate me for this, but can you explain why in laymans terms why you'd spend the whole flight looking up at the earth

Gone fishing

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

Quote

> Negative G dive the whole way round.

You got it! You'd spend the whole flight looking up at the earth.

Your going to hate me for this, but can you explain why in laymans terms why you'd spend the whole flight looking up at the earth

v^2 = a * r
v = tangential velocity, i.e speed of the craft.
a = acceleration; for orbit above the atmosphere this is just gravity.
r = distance from the center of the earth.

Normally, powered flight is about using aerodynamic lift to counteract gravity.

Once you reach a speed where you are circling the earth in ~90 minutes, your inertia, (aka "centrifugal force"), is all that is needed to counteract gravity. This is known as "low earth orbit".

Now you would think that to circle the earth faster, all you would need to do is go faster, but if you do this it will put you into a higher orbit which will cause you to circle the earth slower.

So an option is to drop down into the atmosphere to use negative lift to supplement gravity in order to tighten the radius of your orbit, thereby shortening the time it takes to circle the earth. If the bottom of the craft was facing earth, the occupants would be experiencing constant negative G's, and it would look as if they were in a continuous dive toward the earth.

Now since it would be rather unpleasant to experience constant negative G's, you could flip the craft inverted. Now the occupants would be experiencing positive G's, and they would be looking upward toward the earth.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Should be over mainland USA by now.

edit, just checked his progress, should be landing at Salina about 1.17 pm local time.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[Zep 0]

Now I understand. Thanks for explaining

Mike.

Gone fishing

[n2skdvn 0]

almost there!

if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
my site

[kingbunky 3]

touch down!

edited to add link to cnn story

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[kallend 2,151]

Amazing what 60 year old guys can do!

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.