Steve Fossett

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Steve Fossett

Steve Fossett (born April 22, 1944, in Jackson, Tennessee) earned the rank of Eagle Scout of the Boy Scouts of America as a youth and is a United States millionaire and adventurer. Fossett made his fortune in American financial markets but is best known for his three circumnavigations of the Earth, as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo pilot.

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Accomplishments

On February 21, 1995, Fossett landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. In 2002, he was credited with being the first person to fly around the world alone, nonstop, in a balloon. He launched from Northam, Western Australia, on June 19, 2002, and returned to Australia on July 2, 2002.

Steve Fossett is also one of the world's most accomplished sailors. Speed sailing has been Fossett's specialty and, since 1993, has dominated the record sheets, setting 21 official world records (14 standing) and 9 distance race records (8 standing). On the maxi-catamaran "Cheyenne" Steve has twice set the prestigious 24 Hour Record of Sailing, and in October 2001 Steve and his crew set a TransAtlantic record of 4 days 17 hours - not so much beating as obliterating the previous record by a whopping 43 hours 35 minutes - an increase in average speed of more than 7 knots!

In early 2004 he, as skipper, set the world record for fastest circumnavigation of the world (58 days) in his sailboat Cheyenne with a crew of 13.

On October 27, 2004, Fossett set a new record for fastest flight with an Airship by flying a huge Zeppelin NT with a recorded average speed of 60.4 knots (111.8 km/h, 69.5 mph). The previous record was 50.1 knots (92.8 km/h, 57.7 mph) set in 2001 in a Virgin Lightship.

On February 28, 2005, Fossett took off from Salina, Kansas, in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, on the first solo, non-stop, non-refueled aerial circumnavigation of the globe in a jet aircraft. He flew eastward around the globe with the prevailing winds. On March 3, 2005, at about 01:50 PM CST, Fossett completed the record-breaking flight after 67 hours and 2 minutes and 38 seconds, with an average speed of nearly 300 mph.

Fossett has swum the English Channel, driven the 24 hours of Le Mans, raced in the 1,049 mile Iditarod dog sled race [1], and climbed most of the tallest mountains, along with many other feats.

On July 2-3 2005 Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the first direct crossing of the Atlantic by the British team of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in June 1919 in a Vickers Vimy bi-plane.

Among Fossett's current projects is the Perlan Project. This is an attempt to fly a glider to great altitude by exploiting stratospheric waves, with the aim of 100,000 feet. Although several flights have already been made from New Zealand, Steve has not yet reached the current world record for gliders of over 49,000 feet. Since the glider cockpit is unpressurized, the pilots wear pressure suits (space suits).

He has set 78 Aviation World Records ratified by Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

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