With Help From Kansas State University

When you're flying at 47,000 and you suddenly lose cabin pressure -- that's bad. And that's just what happened to adventurer Steve Fossett as he was ferrying the Rutan Global Flyer from Mojave, CA, to its start/finish point at Salina, KS. But thanks to a quick-thinking, resourceful engineer at Kansas State University, Fossett and Flyer are flying again.

On the trip from Mojave, the Flyer's cabin pressure dropped from the equivalent of 10,000 feet to 14,000 -- too low for effective operation. Fossett donned his O2 mask and completed the trip. But that's not something he necessarily wants to wear on his planned 70+ hour, 'round-the-world journey later this month.

The Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer team had to fix the problem. As it turned out, they chose their mission base quite well -- they found everything they needed, including the technical expertise necessary to fix the problem, right there in Salina.

The problem turned out to be a crack in the Flyer's heat exchanger, along with a leak in the human waste disposal tube. Ordering a new heat exchanger wasn't a problem. The challenge was in modifying the part.

The Flyer's ground support team, which included technicians from Rutan's Scaled Composites as well as six aero-maintenance students from K-State, were able to complete the mods in Salina. A welder was brought in to install the new part.

"We had to drill the holes in the exact locations to match up with the custom fittings," said Gail Simmonds, interim head of the engineering technology department at Kansas State University at Salina. Simmonds was interviewed by reporter Tim Unruh at the Salina Journal. "We were very excited to have a positive impact and were able to meet their needs."

We can imagine it was a lot less fun to repair the human waste tube. In essence, the tube relies on a vacuum to pull the waste out of the aircraft. Heat from the engine's exchange system keeps it from freezing.

Again, while the job was less glamorous, K-State's facilities and personnel were up to the task.

"This was nothing we can't handle," said Gary Funk, who is in charge of the mechanical engineering technology laboratories. He, too, spoke with the Journal.

FMI: www.virginatlanticglobalflyer.com, www.sal.ksu.edu