The Plane That Flew Around the World Without Landing

For decades, aviators had chased one goal: fly all the way around the world without ever landing or taking on more fuel. In December 1986, a homemade aircraft built in a Mojave Desert hangar finally did it, carrying two pilots wedged into a cockpit barely bigger than a phone booth.

Built in a Hangar, Not a Factory

The idea started on a napkin. Designer Burt Rutan sketched the concept for his brother Dick Rutan and pilot Jeana Yeager during a lunch in 1981.

Volunteers then spent five years building the aircraft in Mojave, California, working under the Rutan Aircraft Factory and a support organization called Voyager Aircraft.

The entire project ran on private funds and donations.

The finished airframe, made of fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar, had a structural weight of just 939 pounds. Loaded with fuel for the world flight, it weighed almost 9,700 pounds, more than ten times its own structural weight.

The Wings Nearly Failed Before It Even Left the Ground

Voyager took off from Edwards Air Force Base on December 14, 1986, using nearly all of the base's 15,000 foot runway.

The wings were so heavy with fuel that they flexed down as the plane picked up speed. The tips scraped the runway, cracking and damaging the winglets on both wings.

The damaged pieces hung on by a thin layer of carbon fiber. Dick Rutan tore them free on purpose, flying the plane in a controlled sideways slip.

Burt Rutan, trailing behind in a chase plane, decided the aircraft was still safe enough to continue. Dick Rutan and Yeager kept flying.

Nine Days Wedged Inside a Phone Booth

The two pilots had planned to trade off flying in three-hour shifts. In practice, the plane was too unstable while heavy with fuel to change places easily.

Dick Rutan reportedly stayed at the controls for almost the entire first three days without relief.

They had to steer around a typhoon 600 miles wide over the Pacific. Libya refused to let them cross its airspace.

Near the end of the flight, a fuel pump failed. The crew swapped in a spare, pumping fuel from the other side of the aircraft.

Landing on Fumes

Voyager touched back down at Edwards Air Force Base on December 23, 1986, in front of 55,000 spectators and television crews broadcasting live across Europe and North America.

The flight had lasted 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds. The plane landed with about 106 pounds of fuel left, only 1.5% of what it carried at takeoff.

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale credited the flight with covering more than 24,000 miles, making two crossings of the equator along the way.

A Record That Still Stands

Yeager, the Rutan brothers and crew chief Bruce Evans received the 1986 Collier Trophy, aviation's top annual award, for the flight.

The feat has been repeated only once since, by Steve Fossett in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, an aircraft also designed by Burt Rutan.

The original Voyager now hangs in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, in the Milestones of Flight gallery reserved for aviation's biggest achievements.