Voyager global flight

The Event An airplane circles the earth in nonstop flight

Date December 14-23, 1986

Place Left from and returned to Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave Desert, California

Two U.S. pilots circumnavigated the world in an innovative composite-material aircraft that transported sufficient fuel to enable them to complete the trip without stopping or refueling in transit. Their achievement inspired aerospace design.

During the early twentieth century, several airplane pilots successfully circumnavigated the earth, setting various records, as advancements in aviation technology lengthened the possible distance and duration of flight. Aviators were inspired by a 1962 B-52 Stratofortress nonstop flight covering 12,519 miles between Okinawa, Japan, and Madrid, Spain, without refueling. Their next goal was a nonstop circumnavigation of the globe requiring no supplementary fueling. In 1981, brothers Burt Rutan , an aircraft designer, and Richard Rutan, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, and their colleague Jeana Yeager envisioned an airplane capable of transporting sufficient fuel to sustain an Earth-circling nonstop flight.

The trio established Voyager Aircraft and utilized Burt Rutan’s experiences with composites and canard wings to design a light aircraft capable of lifting large amounts of fuel. For approximately eighteen months, they assembled the Voyager from layers of carbon fibers, polymers, and epoxy molded into various components and heated to strengthen the aircraft, which resembled the letter “W” with a 110-foot bendable wing bisecting it. The Voyager’s small cabin, seventeen fuel tanks, canard, and wing totaled 939 pounds. Two engines powered Voyager. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector approved Voyager for flight.

The Voyager team pushed to attain the record before rival aviators achieved that goal. Starting on June 22, 1984, Richard Rutan and Yeager began test flights in the Voyager, discovering technical issues needing repair, as well as optimal flying strategies to respond to various flight conditions. Inside the narrow Voyager’s cabin, one pilot sat, while the other reclined. During sixty-seven flight tests, they achieved records, including a 11,857-mile flight in July, 1986, between San Luis Obispo, California, and San Francisco, California, with no refueling. This flight resulted in the Voyager project receiving some funds, but corporate financial support—which they had hoped to secure—remained an elusive goal. The Rutans and Yeager invested an estimated two million dollars in Voyager.

Around the World

Rutan and Yeager prepared to fly in early December, 1986, but rain disrupted their plan. After skies cleared, they transferred the Voyager to Edwards Air Force Base on December 13. The next morning, National Aeronautics Association representative Richard Hansen placed seals and other devices on the Voyager to detect any refueling or stops. Piloting the Voyager first, Rutan departed at 8:01 a.m. and flew west, attaining an altitude of fifty-eight hundred feet. Burt Rutan initially followed in another plane to monitor the Voyager, and ground support personnel maintained radio contact.

Flying over the Pacific Ocean, Rutan and Yeager navigated with radar and a Global Positioning System (GPS) to maneuver between storms and turbulent areas. They passed Hawaii and reached the South Pacific on the second day of flight. Rutan avoided flying into Typhoon Marge but benefited from its winds to speed toward the Philippine Islands. On the third day, exhausted after flying since the beginning of the voyage, Rutan slept while Yeager piloted the Voyager through Southeast Asia.

On the fourth day, the pilots stayed near the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), risking storms to benefit from winds to push Voyager along its flight path over the Indian Ocean. As it neared Africa the next day, the Voyager set the record for the greatest flight distance reached without refueling. The pilots crossed mountainous hazards by using the front engine to lift over tall peaks.

During day six, the Voyager pilots turned off the front engine after clearing African mountains and reaching coastal landmarks. On the following day, they completed crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil. Yeager resumed piloting while Rutan slept, guiding Voyager toward the Pacific Ocean. By day eight, the pilots headed north. They experienced fuel pump problems, and the rear engine stopped. As the Voyager began to descend over the ocean, the pilots attempted to turn the front engine on. It started when the aircraft was only thirty-five hundred feet above ground. The Voyager’s movement caused fuel to reach the rear engine, which also started, and the pilots decided to continue toward Edwards Air Force Base with both engines operating.

On December 23, 1986, the Voyager reached Edwards at around 7:30 a.m. A crowd of approximately twenty-three thousand people watched as Rutan flew around the airfield while Yeager lowered the landing gear. The Voyager landed at 8:05 a.m. Hansen verified that his seals were still in place and confirmed the world record flight, which had covered 25,012 miles during nine days, three minutes, and forty-four seconds aloft.

Impact

International news reporters covered the Voyager’s global flight, emphasizing the Rutans’ and Yeager’s achievement as an aviation milestone. On December 29, 1986, Yeager and both Rutan brothers accepted the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Ronald Reagan. They also received aviation’s prestigious Robert Collier Trophy. Pilots Rutan and Yeager discussed their flight at a February 3, 1987, hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, encouraging expanded research and application of composites to military and commercial aircraft. During the summer of 1987, the Voyager was transported for inclusion in the National Air and Space Museum at Washington, D.C.

The Voyager represented the emerging field of aerospace development without government support, foreshadowing later private space exploration that would not be controlled by governmental bureaucracy and restrictions. The Rutans and Yeager retained interest in designing experimental composite aircraft for the remainder of the 1980’s. Their Voyager experiences influenced designs by Burt Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites.

Bibliography

Fink, Donald E. “Salute to Voyager.” Aviation Week and Space Technology 126, no. 1 (January 5, 1987): 13. Editorial examines the Voyager’s possible influence on governmental and civilian aerospace in this issue, which provides thorough coverage.

Marbach, William D., and Peter McAlevey. “Up, Up, and Around.” Newsweek 108, no. 26 (December 29, 1986): 34-36, 41-44. Account supplemented with maps, diagrams, and information profiling significant aviation records.

Mordoff, Keith F. “Voyager Crew Faces Turbulence, Fatigue on World Flight Attempt.” Aviation Week and Space Technology 125, no. 25 (December 22, 1986): 18-21. Describes Voyager’s original flight plan, preparations, and conditions en route.

Schatzberg, Eric. Wings of Wood, Wings of Metal: Culture and Technical Choice in Airplane Materials, 1914-1945. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. Considers the Voyager’s composite materials in context with predecessors using similar strategies.

Yeager, Jeana, and Dick Rutan, with Phil Patton. Voyager. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. Comprehensive pilots’ account discussing all aspects of Voyager. Includes unique photographs.