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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- A fuel leak, soaring heat in the cockpit and weak winds jeopardized adventurer Steve Fossett's quest to break aviation's distance record Thursday as he flew over Asia in his lightweight experimental plane.
Fossett's team had calculated that he would have 500 pounds to 1,000 pounds of fuel left at the end of the 3 1/2-day trip, but the loss of 750 pounds of fuel to a leak during takeoff at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday left no margin for error, the team said on Day 2 of the voyage.
"The fuel loss will diminish the total number of miles it is able to travel," mission control director Kevin Stass said in a statement.
Before takeoff, the spindly plane had more than 18,000 pounds of fuel.
Fossett's team could not immediately pinpoint the cause of the leak.
Fuel leaks had delayed his takeoff and also plagued Fossett's successful flight last year when he became the first person to fly solo, nonstop around the world without refueling.
His team also was seeking clearance for a different route because of soaring temperatures in the cockpit and concerns about weak winds over the Atlantic during the last leg of the trip.
The plane's ventilation system was malfunctioning, causing the temperatures to rise to as much as 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius).
Fossett was forced to drink a large part of his water supply earlier than planned because of the heat, the team said.
Fossett's goal is a nearly 27,000-mile trip (43,000-kilometer) -- once around the world and then across the Atlantic again -- with a landing Saturday outside London.
The 80-hour voyage would break the airplane distance record of 24,987 miles (39,979 kilometers) set in 1986 by the lightweight Voyager aircraft piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, as well as the balloon record of 25,361 miles (40,577 kilometers) set by the Breitling Orbiter 3 in 1999.
Fossett's plane, the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, is made of carbon fiber and has a super fuel-efficient turbofan jet engine with a very high thrust-to-weight ratio.
CNN
