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More than a dozen innovative aircraft designs have sprung from the mind of Burt Rutan. After early work as a flight test engineer, then a designer for Bede Aircraft, Rutan formed his own company in the mid-1970s. He was a pioneer in the use of composite materials such as fiberglass and later formed Scaled Composites to produce prototypes for himself and the aerospace industry.
Rutan's Model 76 Voyager is an all-composite airframe made primarily from a 1/4-inch sandwich of paper honeycomb and graphite fiber, which was shaped and then cured in an oven. The front and rear propellers are powered by two difference engines. The front engine, an air-cooled Teledyne Continental O-240, provides extra power for take-off and during the initial flight stage while the plane was heavily loaded with fuel. The rear engine is a water-cooled Teledyne Continental IOL-200, which acts as the main source of power throughout the flight.
The Voyager accomplished the first nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world. Piloted by Dick Rutan (Burt's brother) and Jeana Yeager, the plane began its flight on December 14, 1986. On December 23, Nine days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds later, it landed back at Edwards Air Force Base.
The original Rutan Voyager is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Museum of Flight's facsimile of the Model 76 Voyager is on loan to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), where it can be seen on display in the main terminal.
More than a dozen innovative aircraft designs have sprung from the mind of Burt Rutan. After early work as a flight test engineer, then a designer for Bede Aircraft, Rutan formed his own company in the mid-1970s. He was a pioneer in the use of composite materials such as fiberglass and later formed Scaled Composites to produce prototypes for himself and the aerospace industry.
Rutan's Model 76 Voyager is an all-composite airframe made primarily from a 1/4-inch sandwich of paper honeycomb and graphite fiber, which was shaped and then cured in an oven. The front and rear propellers are powered by two difference engines. The front engine, an air-cooled Teledyne Continental O-240, provides extra power for take-off and during the initial flight stage while the plane was heavily loaded with fuel. The rear engine is a water-cooled Teledyne Continental IOL-200, which acts as the main source of power throughout the flight.
The Voyager accomplished the first nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world. Piloted by Dick Rutan (Burt's brother) and Jeana Yeager, the plane began its flight on December 14, 1986. On December 23, Nine days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds later, it landed back at Edwards Air Force Base.
The original Rutan Voyager is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Museum of Flight's facsimile of the Model 76 Voyager is on loan to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), where it can be seen on display in the main terminal.
