Global Flyer Success

"Dan Nafe" wrote ...
Is it safe to say that there are no more distance records to be broken?

Both the Voyager and the Global Flyer claim to have "flown around the world"
on the basis of a rather broad and arbitrary definition of that goal. That
definiton includes a minimum distance of 19,863.7 NM. A very long distance
indeed and the Global Flyer went 19,880 NM.

But wait a minute, the circumference of the earth is 21,639 NM. A much
longer mission and neither the Voyager nor the Global Flyer had that sort of
range. So, yes, there is still a distance record out there. That of truely
"flying around the world" unrefueled. A true circumnavigation requires that
you pass through at least two points on the earth that are opposite each
other on the globe.

Rich