the aircraft that flew ard the world without refuelling

voyager was its name...it was the first plane to fly around the world without refuelling.... the primary engineers of the plane were dick rutan and burt rutan... 2 brothers who own the rutan aircraft factory....anyway...this plane was made mostly frm fiber glass...carbon and kevlar...making it weigh ard 426 kgs when empty...even lighter than a normal family car!!...the aircraft actually started out as a sketch behind a napkin...and 6 years later it broke the record of longest flight ard the world...the plane was piloted by burt rutan and jeana yeager.....the took off at edward's air force base and headed for the equator....they flew at an average altitude of 11000 feet and with an average speed of just 196 km/h....it took them exactly 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds frm taking off to touching down....the plane had super long wings to keep more fuel and it ran on a normal piston engine instead of using a jet engine....the plane had 2 propellers....1 on the front and the other on the rear...both propellers had their own individual engines...the back prop was used all the time and the front was used for additional power during take off or cruising through heavy winds...the plane flew a mind blowing 26 366 miles....and it still had a few gallons of fuel left after touchdown...the pilots took turn looking after the plane and 1 pilot could sleep only after 3 days....the voyager today sits at the national air and space museum in washington dc....truly an engineering marvel....

voyager in flight shortly after take off

the plane now sits in the national air and space museum in washington dc

the very first sketch of voyager behind a napkin