Took off from KSC this morning - we’ll see how FA handles a 36hr(?) flight around the world and then some?
The current flight plan goes only as far as Manston, UK (EGMH). From there, VIR101 goes inactive until a flight plan is filed from the eastern side of the Pacific. There will be a flight track again once VIR101 enters the western end of U.S. ATC coverage (out of Guam?). The aircraft would then be tracked to its final U.S. destination.
We should know by tomorrow evening, shouldn’t we?
I was expecting to see Global Flyer go under it’s tail number (N277SF); thanks for pointing out the Virgin callsign it’s using.
I expect we’ll pick it up again somewhere between Alaska, Hawaii, and California in about 60-70 hours from now, and hopefully be able to track it until it’s half way over the Atlantic.
The Global Flyer also shows up when tracking tail number N277SF. It shows the arrival from Salina, KS on Jan. 12. A short map segment is seen for today’s departure from KTTS.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N277SF
The transatlantic route is seen by tracking tail number VIR101.
Interesting point. They use the N number for the US ferry flight and the Virgin VIR airline code for “THE” flight. I wonder if that helps them navigate international airspace without a lot of red tape that any other US registered flight would probably get.
Just to point out that since “At least part of this flight occurs outside of FlightAware’s service area”, Global Flyer can be tracked here: virginatlanticglobalflyer.co … /Tracking/
They use the N number for the US ferry flight and the Virgin VIR airline code for “THE” flight. I wonder if that helps them navigate international airspace without a lot of red tape that any other US registered flight would probably get.
They probably did this not so much for the red tape but to make sure the world record was done and credited to Virgin. By using the registration for the flight to TTS and then VIR101 from TTS there would be no mistake about where the world record flight started.
Thanks! 300 knots…boy, that’s slow.
Here he comes around again.
As of 1700GMT approaching the west coast of the USA showing a destination of EGMH. Lets hope he makes it.
Track flight VIR101:
VIR101 tracks on a map with a width of about 14,000 miles. But I cannot find him on regional maps for Yuma-Phoenix, or Tucson, although I know he’s in there somewhere. The mission website has a zoomable map. Makes me want one here even more. Is he not showing up in the regional FAA feeds? Are they not tracking him in the same way as they do regional (commercial) traffic? Why is he not showing up on, say, Yuma or Phoenix area when he’s in the vicinity. Thanks, Jan
Global Flyer will overfly St. Petersburg Florida about 02:15 UTC.
He is currently at 51,000 ft over El Paso Texas.
Get your telephoto cameras ready. Maybe someone can see his vapor trail??
Now approaching Temple Tx (KTPL)
He’s over the Atlantic just offshore of Norfolk…but on Saturday around 5:30am Central Time will be the go or no-go decision time for him. That is when he is due to reach the point in the atlantic crossing where its the point of no return. After that, if he does not reach the end, he will have to ditch and the plane will be gone. Right now he only rates his chances at 50-50.
bruce
I wanna know where he’s going to the bathroom??? 
The latest report from virginatlanticglobalflyer.com is that Steve declared a Mayday due to generator problem on the aircraft and diverted to Bournemouth. He avoided ditching and is now safely on the ground.
For those of us who missed it, would it be possible for FA to post an animation of this flight?
Most of it was not monitored by FA - go to their website for more info.