Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
| Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| GlobalFlyer at the Mojave Spaceport in April 2004 | |
| Role | Long-range aircraft for record attempt |
| Manufacturer | Scaled Composites |
| Designer | Burt Rutan |
| First flight | 2005 |
| Retired | March 17, 2006 |
| Primary user | Steve Fossett |
| Number built | 1 |
| Career | |
| Registration | N277SF |
| Preserved at | National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center |
The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (registered N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in 2 days 19 hours and 1 minute (67 hours 1 minute) from February 28 to March 3, 2005. The flight speed of 590.7 kilometres per hour (367.0 mph) set the world record for the fastest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation, beating the mark set by the previous Rutan-designed Voyager aircraft at 9 days 3 minutes and an average speed of 116 miles per hour (187 km/h).
The aircraft was owned by the pilot Steve Fossett, sponsored by Richard Branson's airline, Virgin Atlantic, and built by Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites. The two companies subsequently went on to work together on Virgin Galactic.
Between February 8, 2006 and February 11, 2006, Fossett flew the GlobalFlyer for the longest aircraft flight distance in history: 25,766 miles (41,466 km).
The GlobalFlyer was specifically designed to make an uninterrupted (non-refueled) circumnavigation of the globe with a single pilot. Unusual for a modern civil aircraft, the GlobalFlyer has only a single jet engine.
Physically, the GlobalFlyer has twin tail booms mounted outboard of a shorter central fuselage nacelle. The pressurized cockpit is located in the front of the fuselage and provides 7 feet (2 m) of space in which the pilot sits. The single turbofan engine is mounted in an unusual position above the fuselage at a point several feet behind the cockpit, seen also on the Heinkel He 162 Salamander and Cirrus Vision. The outboard booms contain large fuel tanks and end in tail surfaces which are not cross-connected.
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