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Rutan Voyager
Longest non-stop flight without refuelling, 1986
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew the Voyager around the world between 14 and 23 December 1986. They covered 40,212 km in about nine days with no stops and no refuelling.
Voyager was designed by Burt Rutan, Dick's brother, and built mostly of lightweight composite materials so it could carry a huge load of fuel. At takeoff, fuel made up most of the aircraft's weight, and the wings flexed noticeably. Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on 14 December 1986.
The two pilots lived in a very small cabin between the fuselages for nine days, sharing space with controls and equipment. They flew a route that went around the globe in low latitudes, and they faced bad weather and a fuel scare near the end, and landed back at Edwards on 23 December.
The distance is commonly given as 40,212 km. Their achievement was the first flight around the world without landing or refuelling. Later pilots, such as Steve Fossett in 2005 with the GlobalFlyer, flew around the world solo without refuelling, which is a different category from a flight with two crew. The aircraft is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where visitors can see how fragile its structure looks.