science

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer rather than just read about it. In short: The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (registered N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett first flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in slightly more than 67 hours (2 days 19 hours) in 2005. The flight speed of 342 miles per hour (550 km/h) set the world record for the fastest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation, beating the mark set by the previou…

Key takeaways

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer (registered N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett first flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in slightly more than 67 hours (2 days 19 hours) in 2005. The flight speed of 342 miles per hour (550 km/h) 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 with 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 Virgin Atlantic airline, and built by Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites. The two companies subsequently worked together on Virgin Galactic. In February 2006, Fossett flew the GlobalFlyer for the longest aircraft flight distance in history: 25,766 miles (41,466 km).

Design and construction

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. 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 (2.1 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, a similar arrangement to that on the Heinkel He 162 and Cirrus Vision SF50. The outboard booms contain large fuel tanks and end in tail surfaces, which are not cross-connected. The aircraft is constructed of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, the main structural member being a high-aspect-ratio single-spar wing of 114-foot (35 m) span. The wings are made of high-strength composite materials with the skin of the aircraft being a graphite/epoxy and Aramid honeycomb. The use of lightweight materials permits the fuel (in 13 tanks) to compose 83% of the take-off weight. The aircraft had an estimated lift-to-drag ratio of 37. The aerodynamic drag is so low that, even with the engine idling, the aircraft can only descend at a maximum of 700 feet per minute (3.6 m/s). Twin drogue parachutes were used to slow the GlobalFlyer to landing speeds. The earlier Voyager aircraft structure had been by necessity built so lightly that it significantly deflected under aerodynamic loading. Learning from this experience, Rutan designed the GlobalFlyer to have greater stiffness. A design using a single jet engine was chosen for the GlobalFlyer for increased reliability over piston engines and faster circumnavigation for the solo pilot. The GlobalFlyer is designed to operate at high altitudes, where the air is colder, yet in-tank fuel heaters were not included in its design. There was some concern that the fuel might freeze if the aircraft used standard jet fuel. Therefore, the GlobalFlyer's Williams International FJ44-3 ATW turbofan (which normally takes Jet-A fuel), was re-calibrated to burn JP-4, which has a substantially lower freezing point.

First solo nonstop circumnavigation

In January 2005, following solo test flights at Mojave, California, by Chief Engineer Jon Karkow and pilot Steve Fossett, Fossett moved the GlobalFlyer to the Salina Municipal Airport in Salina, Kansas, where a recently resurfaced runway of 12,300 feet (3,700 m) would accommodate the anticipated long takeoff roll. The circumnavigation attempt was delayed until 28 February 2005 to obtain a weather forecast with low turbulence for the fragile GlobalFlyer and good tailwinds. Mission Control was at the Salina campus of Kansas State University, located adjacent to the Salina Municipal Airport. A tailwind was essential to making the 22,858.729 miles (36,787.559 km) that it needed to fly to meet the FAI’s definition of circumnavigation, the length of the Tropic of Cancer. The GlobalFlyer was designed to complete the circumnavigation with minimal reserves of fuel. As it turned out, a design flaw in the fuel venting system resulted in the loss of about 2,600 lb (1,200 kg) of fuel early in the flight. This forced Fossett and Mission Control to consider terminating the flight as it reached the Pacific Ocean near Japan. Fossett chose to delay the final decision until he reached Hawaii. By that time, favorable winds encouraged the mission team to attempt to complete the circumnavigation. GlobalFlyer landed at Salina at 19:50 UTC (13:50 CST) on 3 March 2005, having completed its circumnavigation in 2 days, 19 hours, 1 minute and 46 seconds. As of 2019, this is the fastest world trip in its class at a speed of 342 miles per hour (550 km/h). The distance flown was determined to be 22,936 miles (36,912 km), only 78 miles (125 km) above the minimum distance required.

Longest distance aircraft flight (2006)

Fossett planned a second circumnavigation in the GlobalFlyer in 2006, this time taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, flying eastbound around the world then crossing the Atlantic a second time and then landing at Manston Airport in Kent, England. The objective was to break the Absolute Distance Without Landing Record for airplanes and to exceed the longest distance by any kind of aircraft which was achieved by the Round the World Balloon flight of Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in 1999. On 8 February 2006 at 12:22 UTC, GlobalFlyer took off and flew eastbound from Kennedy Space Center, and landed after 76 hours, 45 minutes with an official distance of 25,766 miles (41,466 km). This distance set a new record for the longest aircraft flight in history, breaking the old records of 24,987 miles (40,213 km) in an airplane and 25,360 miles (40,810 km) in a balloon. The landing was made at Bournemouth Airport, England (short of the planned destination at Kent), because of a generator failure at 40,000 feet (12,000 m). Generator failure meant that Fossett had about 25 minutes until his batteries were exhausted, when he would have lost all electrical power. To add to the drama, ice on the inside of the canopy made vision difficult, with his landing being made virtually blind; one tire was flat from the takeoff roll and the remaining main tire burst on touchdown due to frozen brakes; and the fuel remaining was indicated to be only 200 lb (91 kg). The aircraft survived the landing, with minor damage including a broken aileron hinge and a jammed intake valve.

Closed-circuit distance flight and retirement

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

In research: Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s United States experimental aircraft, Aircraft first flown in 2005, Individual aircraft in the Smithsonian Institution, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in simple terms?

Why does Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.