When the two pilots emerged from the craft shortly afterward, they could barely walk; they had been crammed into a cabin the size of a bathtub for nine days. Not once during those nine days had the team stopped or refueled their delicate aircraft. Col. Richard G. Rutan and Jeana Yeager had just flown around the globe and into aviation history.
Nine-Day Wonder: The First Flight around the World Made Without Refueling
By Mr Ghaz, April 22, 2010
Nine-Day Wonder: The First Flight around the World Made Without Refueling
For 31 minutes a slim, white, oddly shaped aircraft circled the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Gradually the strange plane lost altitude, then swooped down to land safely on the desert floor. It was 8:06 A.M., December 23, 1986.
When the two pilots emerged from the craft shortly afterward, they could barely walk; they had been crammed into a cabin the size of a bathtub for nine days. Not once during those nine days had the team stopped or refueled their delicate aircraft. Col. Richard G. Rutan and Jeana Yeager had just flown around the globe and into aviation history.
Such as achievement had been the dream of pilots and designers since the days of Lindbergh. Viewed as the last great record to be won in aviation, the nonstop round-the-world flight had never before been attempted; no aircraft had been capable of carrying enough fuel to complete the trip without stopping.
Paper Airplane
The beginnings of this milestone flight go back to 1981, when Richard’s brother, Burt, an innovative aircraft designer, sketched a revolutionary design on the back of a paper napkin. For five years thereafter, with the help of numerous dedicated volunteers and a tiny core of paid staff, the Rutans and Yeager worked to fund, build, and fly the dream plane they called the Voyager. The project ultimately cost $2 million, much of which was donated by various aerospace companies.
The aircraft had to be light in order to conserve fuel, and tough enough to withstand turbulence, since most of the flight path would lie in the storm-prone tropics. Burt constructed the plane almost entirely out of panels of a graphite composite a quarter inch thick-20 percent lighter and seven times stronger than aluminum, the material used for conventional aircraft.
Tough as it was, the composite was extremely flexible. Voyager’s slim; 110-foot wings could “flap” in a 30-foot arc, and gave the craft the sleek aerodynamics of a sailplane. Although Voyager had two engines, they were to be used together only in an emergency; the rear engine was for cruising at an average speed of 115 miles per hour.
Burt created the plane’s distinctive H-shape both to add rigidity to the overall design and to provide more space in the long tail booms for fuel. In fact, Voyager was little more than a flying fuel tank: a day and the half were required just to fills it 17 tanks with the 1, 000 gallons of fuel needed to power the plane during its round-the-world trip.
The Long Haul
Voyager’s long-awaited mission started on the morning of December14, 1986. As the airplane rolled down the runway in California, the wingtips, bent by the weight of fuel, scarped along the ground. However, despite small tears in the air-craft’s skin, the damage was insignificant.
With the aid of both NASA and the U.S. Defense Department satellite navigation and communications systems, the crew was kept up-to- date on weather conditions. Storms did force them 2,000 miles farther north than planned, and to avoid turbulence over Africa they had to climb from 10,000 to more than 20,000 feet. These changes consumed extra fuel- but instrument failure made it impossible for the team to determine exactly how much remained
Fortunately, unexpected tails winds compensated for the unplanned use of fuel. In just two days Voyager was able to travel from Kenya, East Africa, to the coast of Central America-some 8,000 miles.
Mechanical mishaps were few, although one engine almost burned out due to a problem with the oil supply. On the last night of the flight, one of the fuel pumps failed and the rear engine stopped. To restart it Richard had to go into a challenging 3,500-foot dive.
Nevertheless, Richard Rutan and Jeana Yeager schedule. The exact flight time for the 25,012-mile journey was 9 days 3 minutes 44 seconds. The aircraft’s fuel tanks were almost dry: a scant 20 gallons remained when Voyager landed.
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