Despite Fuel Scare, Fossett Flies On

Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett decided Wednesday night to press ahead with his attempt to fly around the world solo without refueling, despite a serious problem earlier in the day with the plane’s fuel system.

Fossett and his flight crew agreed to keep the Global- Flyer in the air rather than abandoning the record-setting attempt and setting down in Hawaii.

He discovered the problem with the fuel system of the custom-built plane early Wednesday.

Project manager Paul Moore said sensors in the 13 tanks differed from readings of how quickly the plane’s single jet engine was burning fuel. Moore said the crew had been forced to assume that 2,600 pounds of the original 18,100 pounds of fuel “disappeared” early in the flight.

It was not clear whether the problem was with the instruments that track how much fuel remains or if some fuel had been lost because of a leak, Fossett’s team said.

“I’m better than I was yesterday,” Fossett told reporters Wednesday as he headed into daylight east of Japan. “It improves the mood, also. I’m hopeful this is all going to work out.”

Before the fuel problem was discovered, Fossett had estimated he would complete the 23,000-mile journey at midday today. He took off Monday from Salina.

Fossett still might be able to finish the flight on his original path, if a tailwind in the jet stream remains strong enough to push him across the Pacific from Hawaii. The wind has been fluctuating in strength.

Fossett, 60, already holds the record for flying solo around the globe in a balloon, as well as dozens of other aviation and sailing records.

The latest project is being financed by Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson, a longtime friend and fellow adventurer.

The first nonstop global flight without refueling was made in 1986 by Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, brother of GlobalFlyer designer Burt Rutan of California.

Fossett was trying to break several aviation records, including the longest flight by a jet, which he achieved Wednesday. The previous record of more than 12,000 miles was set by an Air Force B-52 bomber in 1962.

Aviation pioneer Wiley Post made the first solo around-the-world trip in 1933, stopping numerous times to refuel.