Dick Rutan, 85, record-breaking aviator

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Dick Rutan, who has died aged 85, was an American military officer. Rutan
was also a test pilot and record-breaking aviator who in 1986 piloted the
Voyager aircraft on the first non-stop, non-refueled around-the-world
flight with co-pilot Jeana Yeager.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dick-rutan-who-set-an-aviation-milestone-when-he-flew-nonstop-around-the-world-is-dead-at-85/ar-BB1lPIr2

1) I've always wondered what the definition of "around the world" is. I
mean, you could position yourself 10 feet from the north (or south) pole,
and easily walk around the world, right?

2) Assuming that the actual flight around the world was indeed, tens of
thousands of miles, how do they do it - without refueling?

I suppose the answer is lots and lots of extra (full) gas cans onboard.

That's basically what Lindbergh did, and I assume most since then have done
the same.

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Louis Epstein

2024-05-05 21:04:42 UTC

1) I've always wondered what the definition of "around the world" is. I
mean, you could position yourself 10 feet from the north (or south) pole,
and easily walk around the world, right?

People at Amundsen-Scott Station probably do it all the time.

Post by Kenny McCormack
2) Assuming that the actual flight around the world was indeed, tens of
thousands of miles,

It was.

Post by Kenny McCormack
how do they do it - without refueling?
I suppose the answer is lots and lots of extra (full) gas cans onboard.

Wouldn't the safe engineering solution be a really large gas tank
that didn't need to be topped up in flight?

Post by Kenny McCormack
That's basically what Lindbergh did, and I assume most since then have done
the same.

I expect that Burt Rutan's design objective (he built,brother Dick flew)
was to create an aircraft light enough that the fuel it could carry would
have a range of tens of thousands of miles.

Not sure how far an A-380 or 747-8 or C-5B could go if its entire cargo
capacity was connected fuel tanks,but that would be flying for the sake
of flying and the antithesis of practicality...so only on the lightweight
scale of the Rutan-Yeager plane is it attempted.

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Kenny McCormack

2024-05-06 10:03:10 UTC

1) I've always wondered what the definition of "around the world" is. I
mean, you could position yourself 10 feet from the north (or south) pole,
and easily walk around the world, right?

People at Amundsen-Scott Station probably do it all the time.

Thanks for the info. It was helpful.

But I still wonder about the definition. Is there some maximum latitude
written down somewhere, in some rule book, for what qualifies as "round the
world" ?

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Louis Epstein

2024-05-06 15:07:40 UTC

1) I've always wondered what the definition of "around the world" is. I
mean, you could position yourself 10 feet from the north (or south) pole,
and easily walk around the world, right?

People at Amundsen-Scott Station probably do it all the time.

Thanks for the info. It was helpful.
But I still wonder about the definition. Is there some maximum latitude
written down somewhere, in some rule book, for what qualifies as "round the
world" ?

I believe the aviators' rulebook for such relates to a minimum distance travelled
going through all the longitudes.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

mINE109

2024-05-06 16:41:40 UTC

1) I've always wondered what the definition of "around the world" is. I
mean, you could position yourself 10 feet from the north (or south) pole,
and easily walk around the world, right?

People at Amundsen-Scott Station probably do it all the time.

Thanks for the info. It was helpful.
But I still wonder about the definition. Is there some maximum latitude
written down somewhere, in some rule book, for what qualifies as "round the
world" ?

I believe the aviators' rulebook for such relates to a minimum distance travelled
going through all the longitudes.

According to wiki, the flight included two passes over the equator:

"Sanctioned by the FAI and the AOPA, the flight was the first successful
aerial nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the Earth that included
two passes over the Equator (as opposed to shorter ostensible
"circumnavigations" circling the North or South Pole)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager

bryan_styble

2024-05-06 19:12:11 UTC

Thanks for that, Mine109--never realized the Rutan/Yeager team crossed the equator.

I seem to recall Wiley Post--who of course would later perish with Will Rogers up in northern Alaska while on another such journey, with many stops along the way--at some earlier point flew one of those around-the-planet flights that (like Louis was wondering) seemed way too close to the North Pole to really qualify.

[No time right now to research the date and details of that one.]

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

J.D. Baldwin

2024-05-07 16:55:56 UTC