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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.12.16 14:56l 67 Lines 3027 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16734_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 23
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Sent: 161223/1246Z 16734@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1986
Voyager completes global flight
After nine days and four minutes in the sky, the experimental
aircraft Voyager lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California,
completing the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load
of fuel. Piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager,
Voyager was made mostly of plastic and stiffened paper and
carried more than three times its weight in fuel when it took off
from Edwards Air Force Base on December 14. By the time it
returned, after flying 25,012 miles around the planet, it had
just five gallons of fuel left in its remaining operational fuel
tank.
Voyager was built by Burt Rutan of the Rutan Aircraft Company
without government support and with minimal corporate
sponsorship. Dick Rutan, Burt's brother and a decorated Vietnam
War pilot, joined the project early on, as did Dick's friend
Jeanna Yeager (no relation to aviator Chuck Yeager). Voyager`s
extremely light yet strong body was made of layers of
carbon-fiber tape and paper impregnated with epoxy resin. Its
wingspan was 111 feet, and it had its horizontal stabilizer wing
on the plane's nose rather than its rear-a trademark of many of
Rutan's aircraft designs. Essentially a flying fuel tank, every
possible area was used for fuel storage and much modern aircraft
technology was foregone in the effort to reduce weight.
When Voyager took off from Edwards Air Force at 8:02 a.m. PST on
December 14, its wings were so heavy with fuel that their tips
scraped along the ground and caused minor damage. The plane made
it into the air, however, and headed west. On the second day,
Voyager ran into severe turbulence caused by two tropical storms
in the Pacific. Dick Rutan had been concerned about flying the
aircraft at more than a 15-degree angle, but he soon found the
plane could fly on its side at 90 degrees, which occurred when
the wind tossed it back and forth.
Rutan and Yeager shared the controls, but Rutan, a more
experienced pilot, did most of the flying owing to the long
periods of turbulence encountered at various points in the
journey. With weak stomachs, they ate only a fraction of the food
brought along, and each lost about 10 pounds.
On December 23, when Voyager was flying north along the Baja
California coast and just 450 miles short of its goal, the engine
it was using went out, and the aircraft plunged from 8,500 to
5,000 feet before an alternate engine was started up.
Almost nine days to the minute after it lifted off, Voyager
appeared over Edwards Air Force Base and circled as Yeager turned
a primitive crank that lowered the landing gear. Then, to the
cheers of 23,000 spectators, the plane landed safely with a few
gallons of fuel to spare, completing the first nonstop
circumnavigation of the earth by an aircraft that was not
refueled in the air.
Voyager is on permanent display at the National Air and Space
Museum in Washington, D.C.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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