Tracking the Global Flyer

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Mar 2nd 2005 at 5:52PM

Our obsession for the last day or so has been the Global Flyer. While the ramifications of the Virgin-sponsored nonstop flight around the world are probably limited, it is still an interesting attempt. Currently the flight is in peril as pilot Steve Fossett may not have enough fuel to make the record. He plans to head over the Pacific and land in Hawaii if the fuel situation becomes dire. According to the scoop on the Global Flyer website, Sir Richard Branson gave Fossett his Breitling watch for the flight. The watch has an emergency GPS locator just in case Fossett has to bail from the plane. The watch however is just a loaner. Aw, Branson, you're all heart.

Filed under: Wings

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Ax0n Dec 18th 2005 6:01PM

I was actually at the Salina, KS Airport the day of the launch. :)

Anyhow, the Watch is most likely not a GPS watch, but the Breitling Emergency, which has an antenna you can pull out, which activates a transmitter beacon that repeats an internationally acknowledged distress signal (the same 121.5MHz signal, I believe, that jetliners' Black Boxes transmit after a wreck)

Satellites are in place to detect when one of these beacons are triggered, and give a "ballpark" of the beacon's location. From there, traditional radio triangulation techniques can be used to precisely pinpoint the beacon's location by a rescue crew.