A Billionaire with a Passion for Flight

Well The Aviator lost out on a few major awards last night at the Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director & Best Actor, but if you want to see the magic of a modern day billionaire financing innovative airplanes & encouraging new aerospace milestones you need look no further than the founder of Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson. His latest chunk of money is going to finance what could be the first solo non-stop around the world trip by pilot Steve Fossett in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.



The article I was reading about it mentioned Branson giving Fossett his watch:

Branson planned to follow Fossett in a chase plane for the first day of the flight and on the last leg. He gave Fossett his wristwatch, complete with emergency beacon device, to wear for the flight.

“We want you and (the watch) back in one piece at the end,” Branson quipped.

A Breitling Emergency I would presume???

Fossett is no stranger to Breitling. He one-upped the crew of the Breitling Orbiter 3 which flew a hot air balloon non-stop around the world in 1999, by doing it solo in 2002.