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Burt Rutan was surprised when the plane he designed was so loaded with fuel that its wingtips began to drag on the ground as it drove down the runway. He picked up a radio and alerted his brother Dick Rutan, his pilot. But Dick never heard the message.
Nine days and three minutes later, Dick and co-pilot Gina Yeager completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first flight to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.
Dick Rutan, a decorated Vietnam War pilot, died Friday night at a hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, surrounded by Bart and other loved ones. He passed away at the age of 85. His friend Bill Whittle said that after suffering a severe lung infection, he stopped enduring two nights on oxygen and died of his own accord.
“He played the airplane like he played a grand piano,” Burt Rutan said of his brother. Because of Rutan’s smooth flying style, he was often described as having velvety arms.
Bert Rutan said he had always loved designing airplanes and was fascinated by the idea of a plane that could fly around the world. His older brother was similarly passionate about airplanes. This project took him six years.
During the testing of the lightweight graphite airplane Voyager, Bart had a lot to worry about. Mechanical failures also occurred, and any one of them would have resulted in a catastrophe at sea. When fully loaded, the plane could not cope with turbulence. There was also the question of how pilots could survive long flights without sleep. But Burt said his brother had an optimistic view of him that made everyone believe.
“Dick never doubted whether my design would really work, even with gas still in the tank,” Burt Rutan said.
Voyager departed from Edwards Air Force Base in California shortly after 8 a.m. on December 14, 1986. Rutan said that even with all that fuel, there was only a few inches of clearance between the wings. Dick couldn’t see when they started dragging down the runway. However, just as Bart called over the radio, co-pilot Yeager made a speed report, drowning out the message.
“And that’s when the velvet arms really came into play,” Burt Rutan said. “And he very slowly brought the stick back down and his wings curled up to about 30 feet at the wingtips and he took off very smoothly.”
They returned to a hero’s welcome as thousands gathered to witness the landing. The Rutan brothers and Yeager were each awarded the Presidential National Medal by President Ronald Reagan, who initially believed local Thai officials believed the “cockamamie story” of a plane flying around the world on a single tank of gas. “I refused,” he explained.
“We had the freedom to pursue our dreams, and that’s important. And we must never forget those who protect us and our freedom,” Dick Rutan said at the ceremony. We must cling to them tenaciously and pay close attention.” The reason there are good people who think our safety is more important than our freedom is because freedom is so hard to come by, and once lost, even harder to get back. ”
Richard Glenn Rutan was born in Loma Linda, California. He enlisted in the US Air Force in his teens and flew more than 300 of his combat missions during the Vietnam War.
He was part of an elite group that loited above enemy anti-aircraft positions for hours at a time. The mission had the call sign “Misty” and Dick was known as “Misty for Zero.” Among the many awards Dick received were the Silver His Star Award and the Purple Heart Award.
He had to eject from the plane twice, once over Vietnam when his F-100 Super Saber came under enemy fire, and again while stationed in England when the same type of aircraft That’s when I had a breakdown. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel and continued to work as a test pilot.
Burt Rutan said his brother was always having adventures. For example, when his brother’s Russian biplane landed and sank into the ice, leaving him stranded in the North Pole for several days.
Dick Rutan set a new record in 2005 by flying nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers) in a rocket-powered plane launched from the ground in Mojave, California. It was also the first time that U.S. mail was transported by such a plane.
Greg Morris, president of Scaled Composites, the company founded by Burt Rutan, said he first met Dick when he was about 7 years old and over the years always found him generous and welcoming. Told.
“Larger than life in every sense of the word,” Morris said, listing Rutan’s accomplishments in the Vietnam War, the test aircraft and the Voyager flights. “Any one of these contributions would make him a legend in aviation. It’s simply unthinkable for one person to put them all together.”
Whittle said Rutan was brave, sharp and calm during his final hours in the hospital, joking with his family about what happens after death.
“He’s the greatest pilot of all time,” Whittle said.
Dick Rutan is survived by his wife of 25 years, Chris Rutan. She is the daughter of Holly Hogan and Jill Hoffman. and grandchildren Jack, Sean, Noel and Haley.