Closed-Circuit Flight To Take Place By The End Of March

The word out of Kansas is... he's baaaack. Adventure junkie Steve Fossett (right) is headed back to Salina, where he's set to try for yet another aviation record.

This time, the 61-year old Fossett will try for the closed circuit distance record of 24,931 miles. A closed-circuit flight is one that begins and ends at the same point, and the current record was set by Dick Rutan aboard Voyager's original nonstop around-the-world flight back in 1986. That flight took off and landed at Edward's Air Force Base in California.

During his record-setting solo round-the-world flight in March 2005, Fossett traveled approximately 23,000 miles on a closed circuit course from Salina, KS -- not quite enough to break the closed circuit record. Last February, Fossett beat that distance by over 3,000 miles during the Ultimate Flight... but that flight landed in England, after Fossett overflew his takeoff point at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For his latest record attempt, Fossett will once again take off from the Salina (KS) Municipal Airport's 12,300-foot runway... but this time, he'll fly the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer on a slightly longer round-the-world course to clinch the closed-circuit record.

Art Greenfield of the National Aeronautic Association tells the Wichita Eagle the flight could launch as early as next week, weather permitting.

In addition to adding another ribbon to Fossett's trophy case, the latest record flight will also spotlight the aviation department at Kansas State University-Salina. While the school also played a supporting role for Fossett's 2005 around-the-world flight, this time around there will be no Virgin Atlantic staff on hand -- meaning it's K-State-Salina's show, for everything from maintenance to mission control.

Fossett reportedly asked the university last week to provide support for the latest record attempt.

"Steve Fossett is giving K-State at Salina a fantastic opportunity by asking us to lead the effort on the ground to make his next record attempt successful," said Dennis Kuhlman, dean of the university's Salina campus. "By choosing K-State at Salina to provide support for his next attempt, he is doing just that -- giving our students a huge part to play in one of the most exciting high-tech projects in the world today."

FMI: www.globalflyer.com, www.k-state.edu