Fossett tweaks flight plan to save fuel

Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett is altering his planned route to England to save fuel and compensate for weak tailwinds over the Atlantic Ocean.

Flying at a higher altitude and slower to make the most efficient use of his remaining fuel, Fossett now is cruising over New Mexico on a direct line toward St. Petersburg, Fl. He should arrive in that vacinity around 9:15 p.m. EST.

Fossett had planned to turn to the north at that point and travel out over the Atlantic, parallel to the eastern seaboard of the United States. That way he would have had the option of landing in Newfoundland, Canada, if it appeared a second crossing of the Atlantic was going to be too dangerous to try.

A loss of 750 pounds of fuel early in flight and weak tailwinds over the Atlantic have prompted Fossett to change his planned course. Now he aims to take a more direct and fuel-efficient route from St. Petersburg to Ireland before heading to England. He should be back out over the Atlantic off the east coast of Florida around 10 p.m. EST.

Landing at Kent International Airport outside London still would occur around 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday.