Fosset aims for third bid
2003-09-20 10:48
Omarama, New Zealand - Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett's second bid in less than a day to break the world glider altitude record failed early on Saturday and the tenacious American immediately began planning a third.
Flying with former Nasa test pilot Einar Enevoldson, Fossett set off shortly after daybreak from this alpine village to seek mountain wave wind conditions they hoped would lift their glider to heights above the current record of 14 935 metres.
They were back on the ground an hour later, aborting the attempt after hitting "rotor wind... which is rough and turbulent," Fossett said.
"We were hoping for better," he said calmly after removing his high-pressure space suit. "Even the tow plane had to drop us off early" because the wind conditions were too rough.
This second failed bid came 13 hours after Friday's attempt stalled north of New Zealand's highest peak, the 3 754-metre Mount Cook, at about 7 620 metres.
"At that point they ran out of lift," Fossett's partner Mary Howard said.
The millionaire adventurer said on Saturday's pullout showed "what we need for this record is some very specialized wind conditions at (both) lower... and upper levels".
The team was meeting later in the day to assess a fresh weather pattern approaching the region, which may give one last shot at the record in the coming week, he added.
Such conditions only come together for a few days during the June-September period each year in the southern hemisphere.
"It wouldn't surprise me if it takes another two years to get it," a frustrated but cheerful Fossett said.
He has already spent two years chasing the elusive conditions in this southern gliding region to break the record set in 1986 by American Bob Harris. Fossett waited 19 days in New Zealand in August but the right conditions for a record bid failed to materialise.
Fossett and Enevoldson are flying a German-made glider and wearing Nasa space suits for the current record bids.
Fossett hopes eventually to confirm that conditions in the stratosphere can lift a specially designed glider to 30 500 metres, virtually the edge of space. A pressurized glider will have to be built for the rare atmospheric conditions a flight near space would encounter.
In July, Fossett and New Zealand glider pilot Terry Delore broke the world gliding speed record for a 750 kilometre triangular course above the Nevada Desert.
Fossett set another record when he became the first to fly a hot air balloon solo around the world, landing in Outback Australia on July 4, 2002.
Omarama is a gliding center on South Island, 670 kilometres southwest of the capital, Wellington. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA