Global Flyer Success

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:56:41 GMT, "Jan Nademlejnsky"
wrote:

I was very disappointed with the Global Flyer website. The first day the GPS
coordinates were wrong, and it was almost impossible to access their site.
They posted very little information. I could get more info from CNN than
from their site. It took almost a day to mention anything about their fuel
problem.

I gave up watching it on the Virgin Global Flyer website and went to
MSNBC where they had live coverage of the landing.

The airfield had been shut down while Steve was approaching, but he
was delayed while he dealt with a landing gear problem: his nose gear
would not show a green light.

He flew around outside the airport for about 45 extra minutes while he
tried to get three greens. The chase plane was informing him of
various leaks from the nose gear compartment and eventually
recommended he stop playing with the gear. About that time he
reported that he now had three greens and was ready to bring it in.

He was immediately cleared to land and flew an extended base leg for
the final approach. When he turned final, one of the pilots who was
holding for when the airport would be re-opened asked about him and
was told: "Global flyer 101 is on final". Whereupon the holding pilot
congratulated Fossett on the approach frequency. That opened a minor
floodgate of congratulatory, but brief calls, maybe six or eight in
total.

When he touched down, I was struck by how negative an attack the
airplane assumed when riding on all three landing gear. I can only
guess at the reasons, but seeing ahead out of the tiny bubble might be
one, the other might be to make SURE the airplane stays on the ground
once it touches down.

Corky Scott