Fossett breaks record for farthest non-stop flight

Feb 11, 2006, 18:23 GMT

London - Millionaire US adventurer Steve Fossett on Saturday broke a 20-year-old record for the farthest non-stop flight when he landed in England after flying some 42,000 kilometres in more than 80 hours.

The 61-year-old businessman landed safely in Bournemouth, southern England, at the end of a solo flight which took him around the world once and across the Atlantic Ocean twice to beat the previous record of about 40,000 kilometres.

Fossett had been expected to land at Kent International Airport, but was forced by electrical problems to land instead at Bournemouth International Airport on the south coast of England.

The American's ultra-light aircraft Global Flyer touched down at 1700 GMT.

Earlier Saturday it was reported that Fossett has only limited supplies of fuel after losing more fuel then expected during take- off.

Fossett crossed the Atlantic south of Greenland and then flew over Ireland before crossing into English air space. He had already broken the world record when he flew over Shannon airport in Ireland.

The previous record for the farthest non-stop flight was set in 1986 at 40,212 kilometres by pilots Dick Rutan and Jeanne Yeager.

Fossett took off Wednesday from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He went on to cross the North Atlantic, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Japan, the Pacific and the southern United States.

On Friday he spent much of the day over the southern US and the Gulf Coast before reaching open water again off Florida.

Fuel shortages made the Atlantic crossing risky but mission control in St. Louis, Missouri said earlier Saturday that the lack of tailwinds was working in Fossett's favour.